Wow it is chapter 10 already?! It's been a long time since chapter 1! Anyway, you may have noticed that this story has become rated M, Chapter 4's title has changed and the cover of this fic has changed too. There were too many stories with that picture of Khan's lovely back so I changed it to avoid confusion.

THE FEELING'S MUTUAL

The session with the new recruits had finally come to an end, and after a short trip by jumpship to his house from Starfleet Headquarters, Arik was heading towards his study to finish up for the night. The recruits had looked so keen and excited, so eager to begin...the rewards and promises of being strong and powerful were enough to fool them, but truthfully, Arik knew that he wouldn't see a fifth of the faces he'd seen by the end of the program. Not everyone would be as lucky. But, oh well, it was Marcus' idea, and whatever the Admiral says, goes. Marcus hadn't been satisfied in coercing Khan to build spaceships and war machines for him, no, he had also wanted an army of supersoldiers. And he had wanted Arik, their best geneticist to create a secret batch.

Khan had no knowledge of this, of course.

It's a lie, he thought, Marcus says he wants supersoldiers to defend us against the Augments, but all he wants are supersoldiers to do his bidding and fight the Klingons. He wants to create the most powerful army there is. Marcus may want soldiers, but I'm the one who's doing all the work…and what do I get in return? Longer working hours but no extra pay for overtime...

Arik sighed and clutched his clipboard to his chest with pen in hand, scribbling down last-minute notes about the progress of Alpha, the first test subject to have accomplished some of the tests with no problems so far. Alpha's physical check-up is scheduled for tomorrow, Arik reminded himself, and he wrote that down on his pad. He then pushed open the door to his study with his back and entered his room, then moved to his desk and plopped himself down comfortably on his swivel chair.

At the far wall of his study, Arik had set up a rather complex-looking life support machine. It consisted of a large cylindrical tank containing what looked like a human being floating inside, surrounded by clear, fluorescent fluid, wrapped up in an appendage identical to a straitjacket. Their hands were free and they were suspended by wires and catheters, yet their wrists and ankles were bound together tightly by shackles. Arik walked up to the tank and watched the insentient being within silently.

A plaque at the bottom read 'OMEGA'.

He moved away from the tank after checking the statistics and vitals, then moved to his desk and seated himself on his swivel chair again, watching the tank contently with a smile playing on his lips. Khan had no knowledge of this. Neither did Admiral Marcus.

Omega was solely Arik Soong's secret.

MEANWHILE

The sky of Kepler was darkening and Jane knew time passed on this planet rather quickly; after abandoning Khan to look after himself, she arrived at the mouth of the cave, staring at the leafy jungle outside. The opening of the cave, thankfully, was small enough so nothing remotely as large as that creature that had been chasing them would be able to fit through. She was worried it would return for them however, and she found a large rock near the entrance that was hefty enough for cover and sat behind it, then scrubbed at her face with her hand angrily as she contemplated their predicament. Here they were, stuck on an alien planet with a massive bug-like predator prowling around somewhere, hungry for human flesh...not to mention, Khan got hurt because of her, their ship was left unguarded and now they only had one phaser to share.

She shook her head, trying to concentrate on her current task. Dwelling on the past wouldn't be productive here. Two or three excruciating long hours later of watch duty and Jane was bored; she wondered how Khan was doing and if he had healed yet. She'd been on high alert the entire time. Although seated behind the large boulder, she was able to stretch up to look over it and give their surroundings fleeting glances every now and then. The phaser was in her grasp and set to the right function, should anything hostile come their way. Again, she wondered how Khan was faring...

I should stop thinking about him. Why am I even thinking about him? Why am I even thinking about the reason why I am thinking about him in the first place? The loop of thoughts made her head hurt. Never mind. Bug at 3 o'clock.Jane loaded the phaser and locked it on the aforementioned bug; once she had the phaser in position, she fired a shot at the curious insect which had been nearing her a little too much, disintegrating it on the spot. She shivered as she readied the phaser again; Jane really didn't like it here. She wasn't a fan of bugs at all.

Back in the depths of the cave, Khan had been dressing himself with the supplies Jane had left for him. He'd removed the toxin from his wound, using the antidote provided which neutralized most of the poison and left it dribbling out of his flesh in a rather unsightly piddle of watery goo on the cavern floor. Once that was done, his wound began to heal slowly, but surely. His thoughts kept returning to the girl whom had left him alone maybe an hour or two ago. He would have to check up on her and as soon as he found that he was able to stand, he pulled down his shirt over the bandages and strode towards the direction of the entrance of the cave, seeing Jane squatting down behind the large boulder, cautiously peeking out every now and then.

"Jane." He began, as he approached her.

She turned round ever-so-slightly. "Khan? What are you doing here?"

Khan sat down beside her, glancing around their surroundings, then he took the phaser out of her hand and returned it to the pocket of his jacket. "I am fine." He replied, whilst she blinked blankly at him, "If you are tired, you may rest. I will resume watch while you recuperate."

An eyebrow raised questioningly in response. Did she really need Khan's permission to do...well, anything? "I can keep watch, don't worry."

"Jane, I insist."

"I'm staying here." She declared in a huff, before she moved to pull her knees up to her chest. "You should go back into the cave and rest. I got this."

When Khan said or did nothing, she presumed he was here to stay. Jane pursed her lips in thought then. Well, this is going to be awkward…

At first, they sat in silence, staring morosely at the bleak tropical forest outside the cave and the darkening sky above. Occasionally, Khan's eyes would stray over to her; he could see her trembling slightly, and he knew she was getting cold. He took off his coat then, and she turned to him, watching him silently before he leaned towards her with his coat – she backed away warily but he merely draped the coat over her, pulling the ribbed lapels around her – and Jane glanced down at herself meekly. "What are you doing?"

"You're cold."

"But you'll be-"

Khan returned to his spot with his gaze trained on the jungle in front of them. "No."

Jane blinked at him in surprise. "Oh. Um...thanks."

"You are welcome, Jane."

Thanking Khan and hearing him say such words in return to her gratitude felt bizarre to her ears; as though they were words unrelated with such a powerful individual as he. At least she knew he was still capable of basic manners. Then again, Khan – although wooden in some gray areas - had always sustained the air and grace of an aristocratic persona, an individual to be treated with high regard. As she continued her silent analysis of his traits and character, it dawned to her that this was her literally thinking about him again.

Urgh, stop... She thought tiredly, throwing her dejected gaze to the cavern floor.

The silence settled once again, creating a wedge between them that was neither pleasant nor unpleasant. However, it was rather a comfortable silence as Jane brought Khan's coat tighter around herself in an effort to combat the increasingly chilly Kepler air as the night went on. She swerved her eyes to Khan, but this time, his eyes were trained purely on the entrance of the cave, keeping watch for anything remotely aggressive.

...Smells like Khan, she mused as she inauspiciously took a whiff from his coat before the thought ended like a needle scraping off a record. "What's our plan?" She said quickly, in a bid to break the monotony (and to stop wrong thoughts).

"We return to the ship next morning." He replied to that as quickly as she had asked the question.

"That's a good plan. You're not hungry or anything, are you?"

"No."

"Okay, good."

"Are you?"

"...A little bit."

"I'm certain you can last one night without a morsel to eat."

"Well, yeah..." She left her sentence trailing. The silence returned and it was back to Khan and Jane sitting side-by-side.

Now that she thought about it in more detail, Jane hadn't exactly held a normal conversation with Khan before. She wondered what a 'normal' conversation would even be like. Frankly, the notion of having a normal conversation with Khan rather terrified her. She wondered if they'd even have anything in common (she highly doubted it). She wondered what kind of things to talk about with Khan which was acceptable and unacceptable...what would be appropriate and inappropriate?

Am I thinking about this way too much? She thought, Yes, I probably am. If it's nothing to do with my crew, then I have nothing to say to him... Still, if I'm stuck with him, maybe I should try to learn more about him... Maybe I can learn something about him and put it to good use in the future...I mean, if I continue this act, being angry and cold and all...where does that get me? Nowhere. Absolutely nowhere. He'll get tired of it and he'll get angry too and then I'll never get anything done. I'll never get anything my way. Maybe I should pretend I'm okay –not too quickly, of course, or else he'll get suspicious...

At that point, Jane sat up slightly in her spot.

I think I just had an epiphany: maybe I should give him a false idea, a false pretence...Maybe I should pretend I like him…? Would he see through it? How would I be able to pull it off, to keep it up? But in the long term, it might make things a hell lot easier...

"Khan," She began thusly following that interesting train of thought, "When you were-"

"Jane."

"What?"

"What are you doing?"

"What do you mean 'what am I doing'?"

"You mentioned to me previously that you have nothing to say to me unless it concerns your crew."

Jane was seething quietly through gritted teeth. What the hell! Every time I'm onto something, he's always one step ahead of me! "Fine, I'll stop talking then. Let's just sit in long, boring, dull, placid silence and wait until daylight." Jane quipped back, pulling her knees even closer to her chest before resting her chin atop. A few minutes passed and she felt his stern gaze on her, and she turned to him. Khan returned her stare expectantly. "What?"

"Talk."

She frowned. "No, I don't feel like it anymore."

"You were going to ask me a question, therefore I grant you permission to speak."

"Thanks, but no thanks." She barked, and she wriggled to the side, huddling to herself before she leaned against a rock, closing her eyes.

"Jane," came Khan's voice, "What are you doing."

"What does it look like? I'm trying to sleep, so shhh."

As Jane dissolved into gradual silence, Khan eyed her for a few more moments before he maneuvered himself closer to her and took hold of his coat, pulling it higher over her and wrapping it around her even tighter. She did not retaliate. He left her the way she was then, to keep watch. Roughly half an hour later, he could hear her inhaling and exhaling gently and he knew she'd fallen asleep. He swerved his gaze to her then, watching the bulge underneath his coat rise and drop with each breathe she took. Khan moved to the girl yet again and pulled down his coat, to see that she was indeed, sleeping.

He watched her tentatively, eyes straying over her strangely endearing messy hair, the curl of her long eyelashes, the plump fullness of her bottom lip, her long, dainty thin fingers resting underneath her cheek. Khan peeled her off the rock she had been resting against and she swayed towards his direction; he promptly pulled her into his arms then, cradling her; she merely made a high-pitched, whimpering noise from the back of her throat and slumped against him, mumbling incoherently. He put his hand on her cheek and lifted her face up to him, inspecting her.

She was whimpering again, her eyebrows furrowing. "...John..." She muttered under her breath, "John...cold..."

Khan held her closer to him, rubbing at her arms to keep her warm; to his acute surprise, she rubbed her face against his chest.

….

Later, Jane awoke with a start; she was feeling exceptionally warm. She glanced up to see that she was being held tightly by two strong arms and Khan's coat was draped over her head, hence why she was feeling so stuffy. In order to free herself, she began wiggling and whipped the coat off to see Khan staring at her from above. It took her a fraction of a second to piece things together: Wasn't I sleeping against a rock? Her eyes widened then and immediately, Jane scrambled out of his grip and edged towards the cave wall, breathing heavily.

At first, she glanced around their surroundings, her eyes darting back and forth, then she grumbled and rubbed at her temples.

They were still stuck in the cave…

"Why didn't you wake me up?" She mumbled whilst Khan began to slot his arms into the sleeves of his coat.

"I enjoy watching you sleep." He replied, moving to stand as he adjusted the lapels over his chest.

Urgh! Blunt as always! This guy just doesn't know how to be subtle at all! She cringed in response and when he held out his hand to her, she looked up, then at his hand, and reluctantly accepted his offer. He helped her to stand and together, they stared at the entrance of the cave. It was morning. They'd managed to survive the night. "How long was I asleep?" She croaked out; she could really do with some water at the moment.

"Two, three hours. Nothing less, nothing more."

"Time really does pass quickly here…" She muttered, "I guess this planet's off your list then?"

He confirmed this with a brief nod.

"Too many damn bugs." She added. It was then Jane noticed the cave and the walls appeared to have more insect blood and guts than usual. "...Were you up all night?"

He watched her bemusedly as she continued to glimpse around the messy cavern walls. "Some species of arachnids are nocturnal hunters." was Khan's flat response, but he had nothing more to add to that and he began to exit the cave, leaving a bewildered Jane to watch his retreating back, "We have wasted enough time here. The Admiral will be expecting me in eleven-hundred hours."

They wandered out and into blinding daylight; Jane trailed behind Khan cautiously, keeping a constant eye out for any hostile creatures, until he suddenly halted in his tracks.

"What?" She began, "What is-"

She was cut off when Khan slammed a palm over her mouth. His eyes were narrowed, and she knew it could only mean one thing. She fell silent and briefly, very briefly, they could hear a familiar hissing noise in the background. Jane rolled her eyes when she realized what this meant. Khan let go of her to grab her hand and he was running very quickly with her through the jungle. Moments later and there was a loud CRASH! behind them and as Jane threw a look over her shoulder, she saw the creature that had pursued them yesterday bursting through the canopy after them, shrieking raggedly with its claws and mandibles at the ready.

They ran faster; Khan appeared to know where he was going and soon, they could see the towering outline of the ship they'd left behind in the distance. The creature was catching up to them faster than they had expected, however, and once it was within distance of the pair, the creature slammed a claw towards them and Khan and Jane sprang away from each other, diving to the left and right respectively. Jane went rolling underneath some large undergrowth and as soon as she scrambled back upright, she realized the creature was heading off towards Khan's direction.

At least they'd made it to the ship. She got up and ran towards the ship without further ado and noticed it had been untouched since they'd left it. She opened the control panel on one of its sides, rapidly inputted a code while Khan distracted the creature and as soon as she'd managed to gain control over the ship, she pulled open the door and flung herself into the pilot's seat, igniting the ship to a start. When the craft finally jittered into motion, she looked over to see Khan in the midst of battle with the creature, and she hesitated.

I could leave Khan behind, came her startling revelation as she made the ship hover off its spot and into the air. I could leave him here.

Jane threw her gaze to the gear next, and frowned, shaking her head.

No, I can't do that.

With the gear stick in hand, she steered the ship towards Khan's direction and initiated the ship's phaser to aim at the creature. When she finally had a clear shot of the creature in the crosshairs, she pressed down on the button and a single burst of energy rushed forth from the ship's cannon, slamming into the monster's body and incinerating it into nothingness in seconds. Freed from the monster, Khan dropped to the ground abruptly, landing in a low crouch, and looked up.

Jane watched him in return through the window of the ship, settling back into the pilot's chair with a relieved sigh. Her heart had been beating rapidly; it had been a close shot, but she'd succeeded. Swallowing down the dry lump that had lodged itself in her throat, she took control of the gear stick once again and maneuvered the ship safely to return to the ground. She waited for Khan and as he approached, she opened the door for him and he slipped inside before she inched to the passenger seat in order for Khan to take over the pilot's chair. They did that very quickly, fumbling and brushing past each other in the tiny, cramped space. No words were exchanged.

Finally, once they'd seated themselves in their respective chairs, Jane clipped herself into the seat and turned to Khan anxiously, wondering why they hadn't moved yet. His lips had tugged upwards into a light smirk as he ignited the ship's engine once more, as though he was aware of the terrible, conflicting thoughts that had been plaguing her mind the whole entire time they'd been here.

In a matter of seconds they were off, ready to go home. Jane was thoroughly glad to be out of this horrible, rotten excuse for a planet.

...

Once they returned to Khan's home, Jane realized just how much she appreciated earth, its lack of apex predators, and the fact that the bugs of this planet were small and relatively harmless. The first thing she decided to do was go for a shower because she was filthy and scruffy and who knows what kind of Kepler germs she may have brought back with her... She waddled into the shower without further ado after peeling off her dirty jumper and slacks whilst Khan remained in his office; she wasn't sure what he was doing, maybe he was documenting the experience at Kepler or going through the list and wondering what planet he should visit next (unfortunately she would like to sit the next one out).

She sighed in relief as the soothing hot water poured over her body and she relaxed; her muscles had been stiff and achy, her legs sore. She had only been in the shower for a couple of minutes when she heard Khan storming inside and entering the shower, standing behind her. She figured something like this would happen, and she was about to turn round when he stopped her, his strong hands perched on her shoulder.

"...Relax, Jane." She heard him murmur as she stood uncomfortably on the spot with her back to him; she could literally feel his eyes on her, his gaze drinking her in, "I would like to hold you, that is all."

Jane tensed up all over but said nothing when his hands glided down from her shoulders to rest on her hips; she couldn't help but shiver slightly from his sensual touch. She was too tired to protest or lash out at him. Surprisingly enough, their nakedness was not something that bothered her as much this time, and Jane sucked in a weary breath as he encircled his arms around her waist before he pulled her up against his bare chest. He leaned over, and he was brushing wet strands of hair away from the side of her face and nape before he began kissing her neck. Again, she did not react, although her breaths did get shallower.

During their time in Kepler, she realized she'd been put through some horrible, life-changing and morality-questioning situations that could bring either promising or terrible results. She couldn't bring herself to shoot Khan when she had the chance, and she couldn't bring herself to abandon him, either. She always had two choices yet she would end up choosing the one that would lead to the same outcome; she couldn't bring herself to either betray or hurt Khan in any way possible...

Consumed with worry, she was brought out of her thoughts when there was a grip on her hands and she froze, before throwing a quick glance over her shoulder to Khan. He was merely standing over her with his nose pressed against her hair, his eyes closed as his lips hungrily roamed over her flesh. She watched him silently as he held her hands together with his large palm.

She suddenly remembered what had crossed her mind when they were at Kepler. Nervously, Jane slid her gaze to their intertwined hands and she wondered what she was going to do from now on.

What would be the right thing to do?

Thanks for the reviews peeps; apologies for lack of Khan and Jane romance but I do hope the last part made up for it. This is also a reply to the points raised by anonymous reader Star Trekker, but you guys should read this too because I've written some stuff regarding the story and its direction...

1. Jane calls for John in her sleep. This is because I think she prefers it when he was John than Khan.

2. Khan and Jane seem to be moving at baby steps here. I wrote several versions and in the end I just settled for this one. Sorry. It's so hard to write action and Jane's conflicting thoughts all at the same time.

I'm going to put some character profiles too!

Name: Jane Morrow

The ex-Captain of the USS Ganymede. Jane is a geologist and previously served onboard the USS Vesta as First Officer before she was nominated to take over the 3 year mining expedition to Saturn with her own crew. She was also chosen by Khan to bear his child. She is textbook-smart, has eidetic memory, slightly arrogant and lacks witticism and 'street-smarts'. Jane lived at the Starfleet dormitory with her roommate/best friend, and she also has a pet Tribble called Nibble. Her favourite food is groatcake (she is also a source of comic relief for this fic).

Name: Khan/John Harrison (I thought I'd add Khan in even though he is canon)

Although confident in his abilities to succeed in freeing his crew from Admiral Marcus, Khan searches for a host to bear his offspring and picked Jane out of his shortlist. He has admitted he is attracted to her and although she is not superior or equal to him on an intellectual or physical level, he tolerates her and admires her brave nature, feistiness and altruism. He also goes hot and cold most of the time, but he is protective of her.

Name: Clara

Clara is Jane's best friend and roommate.

Name: Stanley Reed

Stanley was the co-pilot of the Ganymede and is currently held hostage somewhere in cryogenic stasis along with the rest of Jane's crew. He was the last to be put into sleep and is closer to Jane compared to the others.

Name: Trudy Lorimer

Jane's childhood friend-turned-rival. Trudy constantly strives to disprove Jane and be better than her. She also enjoys verbally lashing at Jane and comparing her to galactic animals. She is now Captain of the mining expedition.

Name: Mudd/Robot Jane/Jane-bot

It was originally an Alice droid but its looks and personality was customised and derived from Khan's observations although it is a bit too cheerful compared to the actual Jane. He also programmed it to be exceptionally loyal to him. Mudd has taken Jane's place.

Name: Arik Soong

Arik is a geneticist and Head of Department of Militia Science. Arik was approached by Marcus to begin the highly confidential Genesis Program but he is hiding something: 'Omega'. At the moment, there is only one successful Anti-Augment in the program called 'Alpha'.