AN: Marla's made some pretty big mistakes up to now, hasn't she folks? Well, the story's far from over.

Also: Please re-read the previous 2 chapters. Each has been given some extra additions and edits. Thank you! And thanks again to sleepyowlet for pointing out so much. You readers and reviewers help me make a better product with your feedback.

The shuttle was worse than when she had returned from the caves. Not only were there cracks in the metallic walls, but there were actual, fist-sized holes in them. The seats had been ripped up, and pulled away from their mounts. This wasn't a bull let loose in a small space. This was a herd of cattle that had been provoked in to a stampeding frenzy.

It made her wonder how much worse it would be for her when Khan arrived.

As if you don't deserve it?

Liam had shut the door after her, but she knew he likely stood outside, waiting for Khan. She looked over at the door, and took a deep breath. What would happen when it opened next?

She didn't have to wait too long. The door let out a shrill metallic squeaking, and Khan stepped inside. He removed his tiger-pelt cloak, and tossed it to the floor. Then turned his gaze to her.

That blue-flame look was hot enough to actually sear her skin.

"…My oldest friend… is dead, Marla," he said to her. "I saved him from a prison, in the heart of Israel, and he kept my life safe since then… He helped me gather my crew for the Botany Bay, and was the last, before myself, to go in to cryogenic stasis… And now he is gone."

"I know," she whispered. Her fingers shook and her lip trembled. "I'm…It's my fault, Khan, I know it is, I'm…"

"You disobeyed me, again," he continued on, slowly circling around her in that predatory stance. "By leaving the colony's safety… Questioned my own ability by coming after me… do you know what that can do to a man's pride, Marla? Not only that," he added, leaning in close behind her. "You endangered the life of my child." His voice was a low, feline snarl in her ear. "And the life of my Head of Security, and her child… You nearly lost us a capable hunter, and another fertile womb… Do you understand the severity of these things?"

She was shaking, and her tears flowed more. God, she really was pathetic, wasn't she? Pathetic and stupid…

"Yes," she gasped. "Yes, I understand, and I know- I know I don't deserve any forgiveness! I killed him, and nearly killed others, and it was all absolutely worthless," she agreed, her voice failing any form of steadiness as she cried. "I don't deserve your forgiveness, or Suzette's, because I was selfish and self-centered and afraid, and I just wanted you to come back safely because without you, no one will accept us, and I," her voice faltered. She whined, "I love you so much, Khan, it hurts to think of life without you!"

He stayed silent as she spoke. When she finished and took short, shallow, sobbing breaths, he asked quietly, "Are you done?"

She shut her eyes and nodded, sniffling loudly.

He walked away from her, his back to her.

"Your actions… were needless, reckless, and ultimately fatal to one life… My own lost two lives."

Her breath caught in her throat. What? She opened her eyes and looked at his back.

"Tarou and Ivan died because of my thirst for revenge… I admit this. This is my only weakness. But it is something that clouds my judgment. Just as your…irrational fear and concern for me clouds yours."

He turned back to her and his eyes caught her own again. Their fire had not yet died. "I can understand why you chose your actions, Marla, and I was the one who forced you to choose them, in a sense. I do regret that. After all, you still have the mentality of an officer, and officers of any military are faced with decisions such as this often… However, I am also still… angry, Marla, for the results of those decisions. And I still grieve for my friend. It will be some time, yet, before these emotions will fully leave me. Even I must heal from some things."

He walked up to her, and looked down. She followed his gaze right to her stomach, pouching and just starting its swell as the life inside grew. He placed his palm against her stomach. "I confess, if you did not carry this life- half of my own genetic code- within you, I would have punished you, severely, for this."

She nodded, her eyes still trained on his hand. He took it away, and took her chin in his fingers. Then he made her look up at him.

"You have shown so much potential, Marla. You had begun to grow in to something remarkable. Then you make such disastrous choices… How can I trust you to protect my child? Or the rest of my people?"

She swallowed. "Please don't take my baby away," she begged him. "I swear, I'll never doubt you or disobey you again. I won't do anything to hurt the baby, or put myself in danger. I won't ever… I know I don't deserve to be having this baby, but Khan, please, let me atone for this."

He only watched her as she pleaded. When he let go of her chin, he said, "Such promises you have made before. How can I trust you this time?"

He put his hands behind his back.

"You will relinquish your knife and sling. You are not to leave this encampment unless I give you permission, and can accompany you. If I deny your requests- any requests- you will heed to my decision and you will not question me… When I hunt you will be placed in your dwelling and watched by capable guards, and you are not to leave until I return- for I will return, every time. And you are to keep yourself healthy for the sake of the child. Do I make myself clear?"

She nodded and exhaled. "Yes, Sir."

"…Very well. Go." He opened the door to the shuttle. "Return to Liam's shuttle, give him your weapons. Then follow my commands from this day on."

As she stepped forward to leave, he put his hand in front of the door and leaned in to her ear again.

"Let us hope that the next time I call you to private audience will be more… forgiving." He lifted his arm up, and she exited. Her feet took her right to Liam's shuttle to begin her penance.

It was a long one. She did as she was told, and gave up her weapons, which Liam hid away. She stayed in the shuttle when Khan took others for fishing and hunting excursions (which increased as the waters went down) eventually, and while she did worry for him, she remembered that he had said he would come back.

During her confinement, she talked with Liam at length about the tunnels. Together they discussed the various uses of them, aside from emergency shelter. There were possibilities for storage of food, better and more long-lasting than the cryo-tubes, which couldn't last forever. They could indeed mine them and discover what the mystery mineral was that blocked the scanners, and they could even use this substance and any other natural metals to make buildings, in their future.

"We'll need a forge," Marla said during one such conversation. "We sort of need one anyway, if we want to strip down the shuttles. Sod-houses are good, but the metal would be better for building and especially for re-enforcing the walls of the tunnels that are found."

"Yes, I entirely agree," Liam said. "Though a forge requires stone, too, and a very strong fire. The wood will be difficult to burn for a while."

"Roughly three months of the year we have monsoons," she said. "We haven't seen what winter could be like, if this part of the planet even encounters a winter season. We might have more than enough time to get materials for a forge."

"Marla, I'm going to get some of our people, now that the water's decreased, and propose a trip to the cave you found. Since you've seen it first hand, I want you to come with us."

The proposition perked Marla's head up. Oh, to be able to explore the caves again, and at leisure and length!

But for all she might have wanted to, she shook her head.

"No," she answered him. "You can go, please, by all means. But I can't. I have to think about the baby."

"Four months along," Liam observed. "Quite astonishing, really. It still baffles me that so far you've defied quite a few statistical odds and parameters be have gone this long without complications. Absolutely amazing."

"My granddad used to call it 'Irish Luck'." She picked at a fraying line in her Starfleet uniform. "I don't consider myself that lucky."

"Oh, but you are," Liam said. "Just look at you! A mere human, stranded here, with a race of people that are vastly superior in strength and intellect, and yet you're holding your own well enough that you're considered an authority in one area? I shouldn't be telling you this," he said, leaning in and whispering, "But… all of the things you've been talking with me about, I've shared with our Lord… He thinks they're brilliant."

She felt her heart ache. "Really? He does?"

"Of course. We all make very big mistakes from time to time, Marla, but it isn't the mistake that defines us. It is what we do to make up for them."

She looked down again. "It'll be a while before I make up for this one."

"But you're still a clever woman. And still exceptionally lucky. That's a difficult thing for a man of science like me to admit."

The compliment made her smile. "Thank you, Liam."

"Don't mention it. Now," he said, "Since you can't come with us, could you perhaps give some directions? I'd ask you to draw a map but we've yet to develop paper."

"I'll see about getting that started, but until then, yes," she answered him. "I can give you very good directions."

She did see to the creation of paper. As well as the construction of more sod-houses, after the first one survived the unrelenting monsoon. As the ground dried beneath them, they replanted the samples and saplings of the Comp Berries and the few edible roots they had discovered in their preparation times before. The fish brought in now helped widen the diet, and kept everyone going, as did the stored up meat from months before.

The pregnant women in the colony all showed good health and strength.

It was a beautiful, miraculous sight to see them. Though they all did complain of the various symptoms of pregnancy, from frequent urination to the hot-flashes and bloating, the cramps and swelling ankles, they all still seemed very eager for the offspring that were coming. Marla even overheard a few women talking about baby-names. Lots of them wanted traditional ones from their culture. Others were considering the names of scientists or trainers who had guided them.

There was only one that Marla didn't get to see so often.

Running in to Suzette was like trying to catch smoke. Marla would look for her whenever she went out, and she never saw her. When she'd ask Gideon about her, he would answer, "The baby's doing well." But nothing else. Marla knew that she could never deserve the woman's forgiveness for taking that child's father away, but Marla at least wanted to see her.

And then there were Joaquin's last words to her.

Protect him.

Had he meant his baby? Had he wanted Marla to help Suzette protect her baby in his place? Could she do that? Really? Especially with the mother of that child avoiding her (it felt as if that were the case) and hiding away? She wanted to honor Joaquin's wish. She wanted to help Suzette in any way that she could.

Things didn't change until Marla was twenty seven weeks along, and working with leather to bind together a small stack of their newly made paper.

"What's all the paper for?"

Marla stopped fussing with binding glue that had been made, and then turned to look up and over her shoulder. Suzette stood behind her, one hand resting on her protruding belly, while the other hung down at her side. The auburn haired woman stood up and looked at the super-woman's dark eyes.

"It's… For writing and… other things. The colony hadn't made paper yet and…"

"Writing? Like what? History?" Suzette asked her.

"Well… yes. Someday, the tricorders won't work anymore. We'll need to record the history of the colony somehow."

"Good luck with that," Suzette answered. "…There are lots of things that they'll want to know about."

Silence hung down between them as thick and heavy as molasses, before Marla dug up courage and opened her mouth.

"Suzette… There is… Absolutely nothing I can do to make up for what happened… And it isn't… It isn't right or fair, and it never was, that you lost the man you loved, and it was my fault… But, if… If I can do anything to help you, or your baby, I swear, I will do it. You're the first real friend I ever had here, and… It has been breaking my heart to know that you've been in so much pain."

Suzette didn't reply immediately. She shifted on her feet, making her right hip pop out.

"I blamed you," Suzette finally answered. "I blamed you one-hundred percent for it. It took a while for me to get past that. This pain won't go away, and I hate that, but I've been able to think again. Joaquin…" her voice tripped a bit when she said his name. She coughed. "Joaquin was just doing what came naturally… Taking down a threat. Protecting people. He kept me and my baby safe… he kept our Lord's baby safe. And he kept you safe… Besides, there's blame for me, too," she added. "I shouldn't have helped you, or gone off with you, and that compromised us both. I knew what would happen but... I rationalized it because, even though I thought he'd be fine... I didn't want to lose my only friend."

That gave Marla pause. "I'm... What do you mean?"

"I'm not exactly a fucking social butterfly, you know," Suzette told her. "I got along with others well enough for training. But…" she switched the subject, "Anyway, if it hadn't been us, he would have done the same thing for our Leader… He was the most loyal man ever, and I know that this kid of his will be as loyal as him. And just as strong."

Marla blinked, several times, to keep from crying. "I'll never be sorry enough for what happened."

"Oh, God, stop whining, Future Woman," Suzette sighed. "I forgive you, already… Learn to fucking listen." She walked over and put one arm around Marla's shoulder. Their bellies bumped together. "Damn, you're too fat to hug."

That caused Marla to sob out a laugh. "So are you." Suzette laughed with her. Oh, it felt so good to finally laugh with her again!

Suzette put her hand against Marla's stomach, and said, "I hope this kid doesn't get your fat-head." When she pulled away, they exchanged another look. Their friendship might not be what it was before, but Marla was glad to still have it. She would honor her friendship and Joaquin's request, and make sure that Suzette and her baby were always protected and safe. Even if she couldn't do it herself, she would find a way- her own way- to do it.

"Would you like to help me with book binding?" Marla asked her.

"Not really, it sounds a little boring," Suzette answered. "Could you join me later for meditation? Helps you forget about the less 'beautiful' parts of being pregnant."

"Sure," Marla agreed.

And with something so simple, there was hope again.

A few short days later, with the sunset casting an orange glow across the last of the flood-waters, which were nearly dried away, Marla was testing some of the inks made from ground and mashed flower petals in one the books that had been bound. Liam entered the shuttle and said to her, "Our Lord is back from his hunting, Marla."

"I see," she said softly. That meant she could go outside again.

"He…wants to see you."

That made her put down the make-shift wooden 'pen' and she looked at the red-haired scientist. "Are you sure?" she asked him.

"Yes. He wants you in is quarters immediately."

Khan had moved from the shuttle that he had practically demolished single-handedly in to the original sod-house. The newer ones served as their storage, now, but as more were made, and the forge, currently being constructed, was finished, they would all be moving in to the new houses and take up the task of dismantling the shuttles for their metals, to make better weapons and reinforcing walls for the recently explored tunnels.

Marla stood up, carefully, and then nodded. "I won't keep him waiting, then."

Her baby scrunching up her lungs already made her short of breath, but as Liam helped her outside, she felt the difficulty in breathing grow. Her heart thumped in her chest with the power and force of a war drum. She bit and worried on her lower lip. They were met by Zuleika only a few steps away from the shuttle.

"What's going on?" Liam asked her.

"I'm going to escort her the rest of the way," Zuleika said. Marla's eyes flicked from the scientist to the Amazon.

"Why?" Marla asked her.

"Because you need to be guarded," said Zuleika in reply.

Liam looked down at Marla, shrugged, then whispered, "Good luck. Be careful." And he returned to his shuttle. Marla gulped, and followed Zuleika to the earthen-made dwelling.

The flap that had originally been placed on the opening had long been replaced with a thicker leather covering. Zuleika lifted up for Marla, and Marla hesitated before stepping inside. She looked over at the dark-haired Augment woman.

"Go inside," she said.

Marla squared her shoulders slightly and she ducked in.

Khan sat on a retrieved section of cushioned seating from the old shuttle. To his right, various pelts had been piled in to what she guessed was a sort of make-shift bed. Marla looked at the man sitting in front of her and saw that he had taken time to clean himself of any blood from the hunts. With the return of warm weather, he did not wear a shirt. The long gashes that he had gained from the croc-fight had healed and were now pink scars.

In his hands, he held a book.

One of her books. A bowl of beetle-shell ink sat on the floor to his left hand side.

"You," she said, softly but calmly, in spite of what her sweating palms were telling her, "You called for me, Sir?"

Khan's eyes flicked up. Still edged with fire from his recent hunting. But not as burning hot as the last time they had been alone together. "I did." He shut the book, leaned to the left to retrieve the ink.

"I have been observing you since we last met," he said to her. "You have been very productive. Paper, and books… Trial inks and pens for writing? Very good work, Marla."

She dropped her gaze downward. "Thank you, Sir. The colony didn't have them yet."

"An idea that you and Liam made together… You are both an excellent team." He walked over to her. "I was rather impressed with the results of the tunnel exploration. He did an excellent and thorough exploration… Though he owes his findings to you, greatly. You did discover them, after all."

She shook her head. "On accident after leaving, Sir."

"And yet you came back and told me about them." He circled her again. A cat with a toy. Predator and prey. She froze. "And when you were asked to accompany Liam to the tunnels, you did not, for the sake of the child inside of you."

How had he found out about that?

"You are speaking with Suzette, again," he remarked.

"She," Marla took as deep of a breath as she could, "She said she forgave me, Sir, and I have a promise to keep."

"What is that?" he asked her.

"Joaquin…When he died, he said 'protect him'. I think he wanted me to help Suzette protect their baby…"

Khan thought on this. "Nothing else?"

"What else could he mean?"

Khan paused. "Marla… You may think you can do nothing to help others, but your efforts and knowledge has helped me and my people from the beginning. Whenever you applied it well, and consulted others, such as myself, you were able to do so much. Though that intelligence was born from what you already possessed."

He was… Complimenting her?

"I… Thank you, Sir," she said, at a loss for what to say.

He paused in the middle of his second circuit around her. "But you have lost some of the spirit that you once had."

She chanced to look at him. His gaze was hard and heavy on her.

"Spirit?" she asked him.

"I can understand that the tragedy suffered some months ago caused much of that, but we must all face such hardships, sometimes. They help us to grow. And ultimately, it happened not only from your own actions, but mine, and others. Joaquin himself had a hand in his end. He was protecting my heir, and its mother, as well as his child and his beloved. Such loyalty and love cannot be tarnished with resentment.

"The rest, I confess," he said, moving behind her, "was my own doing. Before you ran, I said… something that caused you pain. When you left, it made me look within my own mind and heart. What I saw I had never thought I would find, or feel, especially for someone like you."

She started shaking. She clenched and unclenched her hands. She felt him step up until his chest was pressed up against her back. She felt his breath against the crown of her head, and his hands as they went to her waist and slid up over the tattered blue fabric of her uniform to rest on her expanded stomach. He placed his lips against her hair.

Déjà vu

Marla pulled away from Khan, but he grabbed her arms, though not to hurt or bruise. Merely to hold her still.

"You do not believe me." He wasn't asking. He knew.

"No," Marla said. "I… I want to, but I'm… Khan I love you- really love you- but if I'm just someone you're going to use, then I don't want it. I don't want more pretty lies!"

"They are not lies," he said. He let go of her arms and took her face in his hands. "Your spirit, as bright as fire and stronger than steel, your will, and your tenacity beguiled me, but your capacity to learn and adapt drew me in… And your natural ability to love, forgive, and show mercy confound me." He dropped his hands from her face to take her hands, and held them tightly in his fingers. "What you lack in physical strength, Marla, you make up for in a thousand other ways. Do you not see? I cannot forgive easily, or feel compassion and care for others aside from my own kind. We compliment and complete one another so perfectly… Marla, you are a marvel. Like my mother, who conceived Project Chrysalis, though you were born of ordinary humans, you are a Superior Woman. I want you, and only you, to stand beside me as we shape this colony in to a Kingdom."

She shook her head as he professed all of these things to her. It was too good. Too wonderful to hope for.

"You… do you really mean that? Honestly?" she asked him. She wanted it too badly for it to be the truth.

"Yes," the word was almost a prayer on his lips. "My Marla, my love, I want you, and I cannot stand waiting any longer to have you again." Khan's mouth pressed against hers, and he practically growled against her lips as she felt the last of her doubt and fear die. She threw her arms around his neck, while his hands went to her hips. He was bent and pulled away to keep from pressing against her stomach, but he managed to guide her over to the pelts. He took his lips away and pulled at the blue uniform, nearly tearing the too-tight thing off of Marla's body, his fingers seeking to strip her bare, before his hands went to strip himself down.

"Let me!" she demanded as she pushed his hands away from the leather coat and slid the animal skin down his arms. Her fingers flew to the strings that held him in his breeches, and kept going until they were both fully naked.

A brief flash of self-consciousness seized hold of her. Her body had changed since the last time she had been with him intimately. Her breasts had swollen, along with her stomach. Her skin was more flushed, and she felt like every imperfection she had was on display. But then her eyes went to the scars across his chest. Scars that hadn't been there before a few months ago. She moved her fingers over those scars. Traced them with the tips.

"Rug makers used to leave imperfections in their creations," she said before she moved in close and began to kiss the scars. "They made the rugs more beautiful and unique than before… You were the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen, and these make me love you more than ever," she said against his skin.

He knelt down, and then guided her down. He stretched back along the pelts, and bent his legs. He let her straddle his waist, his thighs becoming a seat for her. The long fingers of his strong hands went to her belly again, and ran over the smooth, stretched surface.

"Sacred mother and the fount of desire," he murmured as his hands wandered up to cup her breasts. She whimpered, then moaned as his touch both soothed her tender and aching flesh, yet made it burn with sensations that she had missed so much. She eased down over him until she felt the scalding hot, electrifying connection as he slid inside of her. He started to ease his hips upward while she moved her own down, and they found a perfect synchronization to their bodies.

Every nerve in her body was lit up and sending shocks and jolts all at once. His hands, his shaft inside of her, the meaty slide and slap of their bodies together, the gentle yet absolutely urgent motions of their hips. Had it always felt this good? Was it the hormone changes she was experiencing every day? Or was it their need for one another? Their absolute hunger for each other that had been denied for so long and was finally- Yes, God, FINALLY!- being satisfied again?

She looked down at Khan, and watched his face. Observed every how his body reacted to hers. Looked in to his eyes as they changed yet again…Neither fire nor ice, but clear blue waters that pulled her deep in to the currents. Her right hand found his left and she pressed their palms together. Laced their fingers through. She put her left hand to his cheek, and rubbed her thumb against his sharp, high cheek.

Mine.

My beautiful warrior. My strong and fiery king.

Everything that I'm not, but want to be.

My one and only love!

Mine!

She ground against him, though kept her pace while his right hand's fingers slid over her side and hip, then back up to her breasts.

"Khan!" her voice was a hush of breath but the wanton urgency was clear.

"Yes," he answered her as he pressed his hips up harder, rocking quicker beneath her. She shut her eyes and they fell together, swept away in the rush of their lust and love for one another. While she trembled with absolutely delicious, delirious aftershocks, he eased her down on to her side, until he had her back pressed to his chest, and his arms wrapped around her. His hands rested on her belly.

He pressed his plump lips to the skin behind the shell of her ear. She let out a long, contented sigh.

"No regrets, my love?" he asked her.

"None," she answered him. "None at all."

A thump against her stomach startled her. Khan lifted his head slightly and placed his palm flat to her stomach, and it happened again.

"Definitely no regrets," Marla reaffirmed before she heard Khan's dark and utterly edible chuckle in her ear.

The decision for this had come from the many couples that wanted their children to be born to proper parents. It also came from childless couples who wanted to make it clear that they were attached, and that they loved one another. Two such supplicants for it were a pair of men who were eager to make their love for one another known publically. There were no objections in the least.

Thus, a wedding was planned. During Marla's thirty-second week of pregnancy, she was garbed in a new leather and silver-blanket made sari that touched and trailed the ground, and gave her stomach more than enough room. Standing outside of the sod-house while she prepared for the mass-ceremony was Pavarti Rao, who had already dressed for her own part in the wedding (and now had full use of both of her legs), and Zuleika, similarly dressed. Marla had been surprised to find out through gossip and confirmations from others that Zuleika had grown attached to Talbot, who thought she was beautiful even with the missing tooth, and that Javier had been admiring Pavarti for a long time. Pavarti more than returned the sentiments.

Though to be told that both women wanted to be her bridesmaids and new guards was more surprising.

Suzette wove flowers through Marla's hair, now longer than ever, and made sure that the small tiger-pelt cape- to match Khan's- set properly on Marla's shoulders.

"You should be with us as a bride," Marla told her Maid of Honor. "You and Joaquin should be getting married today, too."

"I've got my proof of his love," Suzette said, gently patting at her baby-bump. "I don't need anything else."

"You're still a better friend than I deserve," Marla told her.

"And you're going to make the other two brides late for this," Suzette told her, standing back. "I'm done. Let's go."

Marla turned to face her, and she looked in her friend's eyes. "If the baby is a boy… I want to name him Joaquin. If you don't mind. To remember the man who kept him safe, even before he was born."

Suzette's expression softened and Marla saw the dark irises glaze slightly. Suzette blinked, and nodded. "That's fine. I'd…I'd like that." She then reached for Marla's hand and gave it a squeeze. "And when my baby is born… I'll teach him everything I know, and everything his father taught me… And he will protect your baby, too."

Marla smiled at Suzette, and hugged her as closely and tightly as their bodies would allow. Then she let go of her and the four women walked to the central fire-pit. Put out for the ceremony, but still the great focal point of the camp.

Khan stood waiting with the other couples participating. He turned his attention to the women as they approached, and he extended his hand out to Marla. Today he had his hair tied and held in a tight fish-tail braid. His tiger cape trailed the ground. A soft-skin tunic replaced his long-coat, though he still looked exceptionally regal to her.

Marla smiled, and while her guards broke away to join their partners, Suzette stood at Marla's side while the petite woman took the Emperor's hand.

"My people," Khan addressed the couples. "My dear brothers and sisters. We have seen much strife, and suffered through many trials and losses. Today we shall have joy, again. Today, we gather to celebrate love, and join many in matrimony. I ask that you all turn to your partner, and take their hand."

The throng did as they were instructed, each pair looking with love and affection in to one another's eyes. Even Harluf had a bride, becoming close to Karyn Bradley after the crocodile hunt.

"Today, you shall vow to the one beside you that you will stand together with them, through any hardship and every triumph. That you will honor them as your partner, and your love," Khan turned his eyes to Marla, who met the ice-colored gaze with warm hues of amber. "Vow to keep them, and protect them, and to be true and loyal to them, for as long as you live. And that your heart's devotion will not end until death parts you."

He turned his eyes back to the crowd. "Do you swear to this vow?"

The various voices rang out with 'I do'.

With a look of pure satisfaction and pride, Khan raised his free hand. "Then I pronounce you partners for life!" Cheers rang out and all of the couples let themselves indulge in kisses for their new spouses, each show of affection ranging from gentle and chaste to rather hot and a bit much for such a public occasion.

Khan turned to Marla, then, and reached in to some pocket she hadn't known his clothing possessed. He pulled out something small and white.

"What…What is that?" she asked him.

"Something made some time ago, while in solitude." He slid it over her finger. A ring. Made from bone? "I had thought to turn a tiger tusk in to a sword, but… I realized that this was a better application."

She felt her cheeks grow warm as she blushed. She looked at the markings. Their names, in English, woven together.

"You do realize how unbelievably cheesy this is?" Marla asked him, even as she felt tears spring to her eyes.

"It is acceptable when given genuinely," he countered. He then raised her newly adorned hand, and he said with a clear and loud voice, "I present to you all your new Empress. Marla McGivers Singh."

Suzette clapped beside them, and soon the rest were clapping their hands together.

As the full meaning of the title and the day sat on her, Marla couldn't help but let herself give in to the happiness. She was alive, with this magnificent man, and with these amazing people, with a healthy child growing each day inside of her.

Life was absolutely perfect.

AN: TWO CHAPTERS IN ONE DAY?! WHAAAAAT?

I did say the story wasn't over! If you're not a fan of schmoopy chapters and sweet stuff, then sorry if this wasn't your cup of tea. If you're a fan of the absolutely cute and lovey-dovey things, I hope you enjoyed!

WARNING: If you like happy endings and hopeful futures, then stop RIGHT NOW. However, if you aren't afraid of tragic stories, and lots of feels, then hang on. It's the beginning of the end.