Putting up with the physical strain of Mira's abuse was one thing. But strain of her mental attacks was another method entirely, even for a mind of Khan's caliber. The serum, of his own making, was doing its job well.

After each jab of the needle and perhaps a couple of more beatings, Mira would ask of Khan the same question:

"Who is Lieutenant Reyne Winters?"

Khan never responded, which was the problem. If Reyne had meant nothing to him, he would have said so or given basic information without hesitation. Khan would simply fix upon Mira with a look of such contempt and resistance that anyone other than herself would have averted their gaze. Mira, however, would simply sigh and reload the syringe. Through the one way glass, Admiral Marcus observed with steel grey eyes of discontent.

This was beginning to become a real pain in the ass.

Three weeks in prison was enough to dull the initial novelty of the experience. Shanel and the other inmates had left her alone. Reyne wasn't quite sure whether she preferred the solitude. Perhaps a little bit more conflict would lessen the rather depressing boredom that was quickly settling in. Compared to her old prison, this place might as well have been a hotel.

But upon the dawning of her fourth straight Monday, there was quite the deviation from routine.

"Winters"

Reyne lifted her head from the flattened excuse for a pillow at the sound of her name from the guard's mouth.

"You've been posted" he informed her.

"What?" she asked, blinking several times.

"Your bail's been paid. You're free to go"

Reyne slowly sat up on the edge of the bed as her cell door was opened.

"Follow me and you can get your things"

Reyne felt she was in a bit of a daze as she was handed back her own clothes. She certainly couldn't have afforded this and Christopher Pike was dead.

Admiral Marcus looked at the Augment restrained in the chair in front of him. Khan had a rather pained look on his face and a bloodied lip.

"What are you doing here Khan?" he asked grimly. Khan slowly lifted his head so that his blue eyes met Marcus' grey ones, a clash of steel and sky…and spat sharply at the admiral's feet.

Marcus restrainedly looked down at the tiny bead of liquid on the polished leather surface. Then back at Khan. In a single stride, the admiral grabbed Khan by the front of his uniform.

"Now what in the goddamn hell is wrong with you?" he hissed quietly.

"The current violence is quite obvious Admiral" Khan replied, swallowing, eyes flicking to Mira before back to Marcus'.

"You screwed her for one night, which hardly qualifies as a relationship, the kind of which we both know is not in your nature" snapped Marcus, giving the Augment a rough shake. But Khan's voice was calm as anything, only sounding just a little out of breath.

"She…chose…me"

"Oh for chrissakes" Marcus said exasperatedly.

"It's a bit out of your reach Admiral" Khan replied.

"Then explain it to me goddammit" he growled, flexing his fingers, not really caring either way. Khan merely narrowed his eyes as Marcus snapped his fingers in front of Khan's face "Come on, you're a man of words" Marcus snapped.

It was no use explaining. Marcus was incapable of understanding. The one person who would was out of his reach, quite possibly forever.

"Fine. You want to help her? Then end this. With you, she hasn't a chance at normality and we both know she hasn't had a lot of that in her life. There's no future for either of you and you're already on the path to execution, we both know who's getting the heavy lifting here."

Khan's pupils dilated just a bit. Well…Marcus did have a point. But the minute it was clear that Khan's mind was occupied in weighing the pros and cons of Reyne's future without him, how she might cope, Mira stepped in from behind with another shot full of serum.

Kirk and McCoy sat in the rather small prison waiting room. A table of outdated magazines and a couple of partially dying plants were their only company at the moment. At least until Reyne finally arrived. McCoy practically shot out of his chair, enveloping Reyne in a hug.

"Well you're alive" he sighed in relief.

"I would've starved. I hate oatmeal" Reyne answered, holding onto the Doctor, glad of the familiarity.

Kirk cleared his throat.

"I…was able to call in a few favors…" he said, shrugging. A bit slowly, but grateful all the same, Reyne gave him a hug as well, though she still hadn't quite forgiven him for earlier. It took at least a minute for Kirk to hug her back, gently.

Reyne had only just stepped back when they heard a beep. Kirk took his communicator out of his pocket, turning to the side.

"Kirk" he replied.

Inaudible to McCoy and Reyne;

"Are you with Winters?" Marcus asked tersely.

"…Yes sir" Kirk said, a hint of confusion in his voice. "She's just been released"

"I need her. Here. Now"

"What? Wh-"

"It's none of your concern Captain. She'll want to see this"

Kirk had barely given his understanding when the line suddenly cut as Marcus flipped his communicator closed on the other end. He looked at McCoy and Reyne, a feeling of dread dawning but unable to provide a reason.

"Jim what is it?" he asked. Kirk's gaze moved to McCoy and Reyne, back and forth, wondering how best to convey the Admiral's summons.

If there was anything to be tattooed on the walls of Reyne's mind it would be the words Khan had just said to her after a period of tense silence after her entering the room.

"I'm afraid this façade is no longer beneficial, Lieutenant Winters"

The glass of Khan's cell was gone at the moment, but the door locked itself behind her. She expected he'd be kept on tight metaphorical leash so she had made no move to approach him. The silence between them was deafening. Her mind was still scrambling to make sense of his statement. Khan had expected this.

She was only human after all.

"I…I don't understand. Beneficial…what does that mean?" she asked, swallowing, looking Khan straight in the eye.

"You're well-read Lieutenant. Unless your post traumatic state has hindered your understanding"

Reyne blinked several times, a heated tightness filling her throat. It wasn't that Khan had just quite possibly insulted her. She'd been insulted several times. But those had been meant to hurt her, to cause damage. This had no feeling behind it whatsoever.

Her hands started to shake involuntarily so she slowly crossed her arms, as if to try and keep herself in one piece.

"Then say it"

Khan picked up on the barest tremor in her voice. Reyne felt her eyes starting to sting but not yet well up.

"I'm afraid I just articulated my meaning Lieutenant"

"I want to hear the words…out of your goddamn mouth" Reyne took a breath to steady herself.

"Your stamina is a feat. Most would be in a state of denial. Yet your acceptance is commendable" Khan replied glacially.

Kirk and McCoy watched on the other side of the one-sided glass. Neither of them dared to breathe while Marcus observed with indifference. Even Kirk, who had loathed Khan with every fiber, was finding it difficult to believe what he was witnessing.

Slowly, Khan tilted Reyne's face to the side, averting her gaze slightly. He laid a faint cold merciless kiss to her cheek. He might as well have taken a blade that was left out in the cold and smacked her across the face with it. He tilted her face back, frozen pupils on hers.

A tense second of stillness remained between them before Reyne's hand flew up, only to be caught in Khan's hand, as a bird in a cage. His thumb pressed down on her wrist, fingers slowly opening like a flower after winter's chill. He interlocked his fingers with hers, in a gesture that suggested anything but companionship. The pressure was building, Reyne biting her lip to keep from crying out.

"Discretion…Not your finest area" he remarked and in a quick movement, Reyne felt her bones snap, and heard the release of her mouth's scream. It was a scream of such pain, suggesting that her hand wasn't the only thing that was broken.

She dropped to the floor like a marionette whose strings had been cut, whimpering and crying like nothing Kirk had ever seen before.

"Jesus Christ!" McCoy exclaimed, himself and Kirk bolting out the door to take the stairwell down there. Marcus was alone for a brief minute before Mira sidled up smoothly next to him. From the look on her face, she might as well have had a bowl of popcorn.

Khan had only turned halfway, making no move to assist Reyne;

"I….I don't believe you…n-not for one second…just talk…." She swallowed, face streaked with tears. "Just talk to me please!"

Khan's gaze fixed back on her as if she was something he could quash like a grape.

"I think my point was fairly effective Lieutenant"

Reyne shook her head in response, having made it now onto her knees, cradling her damaged appendage. Pausing to breathe heavily, as if that would aid the fire in her hand, she suddenly felt a shadow over her.

"I have a strange feeling with regard to you Lieutenant Winters"

No.

"As if I had a string somewhere under my left ribs, tightly knotted to a similar string in you. And if you were to leave I'm afraid that cord of communion would snap"

Don't.

Jane Eyre. Only this was not a proposal. No it was quite the opposite in fact.

"Stop" Reyne breathed. "Please"

"And I have a notion that I'd take to bleeding inwardly" Khan's fingers dug into the back of her head, pulling it back to lock her gaze with his.

"And as for you...you'd forget me" His boot suddenly came to her side as Khan simultaneously, calculatingly broke at least 4 of her twelve ribs before dropping her back to the floor.

Khan merely stepped aside, the glass returned to its state of confinement as Kirk, McCoy, and security entered the room.