I know I'm mean for ending the last chapter the way I did. I'm not sorry.
Thanks to Cutie Kyuubi who pointed out your not supposed to flick the vein before taking a sample. You learn something new everyday. Anyway I put a half-assed attempt to fix that in this. You can either buy it or ignore it. Whatever works. But thanks (again) for pointing it out, Cutie Kyuubi. I'll be sure to file that away for future reference.
Disclaimer: I can't seem to make this mine, unfortunately
Hayley jerked back, instinctively trying to pull away from the man now latched onto her arm. He shot up into a seated position as though he hadn't been unconscious for the past few weeks. Acting on auto pilot, she threw her free arm forward in an attempt to break his nose, but he easily blocked that, grabbing her fist in his other hand so that her arms were crossed awkwardly and she had no way of escaping. He slid off the table, gray eyes studying her as she kicked out as a last ditch attempt for freedom. She wasn't at her best right now and logically knew she couldn't get away without help.
In one movement so swift she hadn't even realized what was happening, he pinned her against his now vacated bed, both arms trapped painfully behind her. Her shoulders screamed in protest at the uncomfortable position. She grunted as he put more weight on her, keeping her from struggling.
"Let me go," she growled before she could stop herself.
"Why do you want my blood?" his voice was so deep and low it rumbled through her back where he was pressed. His breath stirred her loose hair as he turned slightly to look around. "Where am I?"
She licked her lips, deciding to be as honest as possible until he gave her a reason not to. Besides, she had a feeling he wouldn't take her lying very well. "The Starship Enterprise. We found you while looking for the Romulans who killed some of our people. Do you work for them?"
He chuckled humorlessly, "They held my crew and I hostage, forced me to do their bidding, and then proceeded to kill my crew to test their gas."
She sucked in a breath in shock, both at his words and the tightened grasp around her wrists. If he wasn't careful he might break her hand. She kept talking, hoping to calm him down enough to let her go, "They killed my crew with that gas. Killed an entire hospital. I've been working with the gas to make an antidote so we can stop them. I was taking your blood just to figure out who you were. How you were a part of this."
There was a beat of silence as he digested that before he roughly pushed her away. She sagged against the bed, ignoring the prickling feeling at her neck as he watched her. When she had regained some of her composure, she turned to face him, idly rubbing her sore wrist. She was definitely going to have bruises. Spock wouldn't be happy about that. Neither would Bones or Jim or any of the crew for that matter. They could be ridiculously protective most of the time, especially after she had her head injury.
He studied her for a good long while, dissecting her every twitch, "You're a scientist." It wasn't a question but she nodded anyway. "You shouldn't flick the vein. It compromises the blood sample."
She huffed, "Maybe a couple hundred years ago, but now I needed it to be 'compromised' to get a certain reading."
He tilted his head in curiosity, "It seems a lot has changed since I was put under. The Romulans didn't share very much."
Her brow furrowed, "What are you talking about?"
"My name is Khan Singh. I am from the twentieth century. I was put under stasis along with my crew for hundreds of years until the Romulans woke us from our sleep. They somehow knew who I was, knew I had been a biologist in my time, a biologist ahead of my time. They took my crew as hostages so that I would do whatever they wished. I was forced to make that gas for them. I watched as they planned around me, not knowing how quickly I was able to piece together their language and figure out exactly what they were going to do. Though, I never did find out the plan for my crew until it was too late." He turned away, hunching in on himself as though in pain. Hayley stopped herself from reaching out, realizing he needed to get all of this out before he could heal. "They were used as the first test subjects. I had to watch my crew, my family, suffocate in their sleep. And I had no way to stop them. When I tried to fight they merely knocked me out, dragged me to a new location on the planet where you found me."
She closed her eyes and shuddered. She had thought she had lost a lot thanks to that gas. But she hadn't. She had managed to save her friends, even if she lost the rest of the crew on the Titan. Now she was safe on a new ship that felt more like home than the Titan had and a new family. Hell, she even had Spock, something she never thought she'd get in her wildest dreams. Her heart went out to Khan, even if he had hurt her, but she couldn't think of a way to help him. So she stayed silent, waiting for him to decide where to take the conversation next.
He finally turned back to her, his eyes suddenly sharp and searching, "You said they killed your crew, that you were making an antidote."
It was her turn to study the man in front of her. She still didn't know if she could trust him. Clearly he was emotionally compromised. Was that enough for him to turn on her and the rest of the Enterprise if circumstances go against whatever he had planned? Could she trust him with all this information? Most of it was simply about the past, what they had done thus far and things like that. She didn't need to tell him anything critical to how they were looking for the Romulans.
"I made an antidote while on the Starship Titan. We were studying the gas that had ravaged an asteroid. I wanted to get an antidote done as quickly as possible. Especially after a few of my friends and I found that what we had thought was a Vulcan scientist working with us was actually Romulan and sending encrypted messages out to some unknown party. I started sending out my own messages to a friend of mine in a language we made up as children. Luckily he was working on this Starship and was able to get them fairly quickly. Unfortunately before the Enterprise could come and help, we were caught. The Romulan destroyed the asteroid in an attempt to hide the evidence and, during a fight, the gas was unleashed onto the ship. I had enough antidote for myself and my three friends. We were the only survivors."
She paused to take a breath and allow him time to come to terms with that information. He was blinking at her with a sort of thunderstruck expression. She raised an eyebrow in silent inquiry and he shook his head.
"I apologize for hurting you. It seems you've lost just as much as I have."
She waved away the apology, "I'd hardly say that. Plus I've gained much more. The Enterprise came and found us. They took care of us while we recovered and we were able to join some old friends of ours. We're much more comfortable here. We were ordered to relax and recuperate until word of the attacks on Tartarus got around. The similarities were too much to ignore and we came out immediately. By the time we arrived I already had the preventive vaccine all sorted out as well. We went down and administered all the antidotes to those who needed and went in search of the Romulans. That was how we found you of course. We fought them. I got knocked out." She rubbed the back of her head with a grimace. "And we all came back here. That's about it."
He nodded, "Thank you for sharing all that with me. Most wouldn't trust a stranger so easily."
Hayley watched carefully as he stepped closer, "I figured you had a right to know. But the Captain will want to know exactly what it is you plan on doing."
"Excuse me?" his voice dropped threateningly.
She straightened from her slumped position against the biobed, "I'm sorry for what happened to you, but we can't allow you to run off on your own, looking for revenge. People could get hurt. And we'll need to know what you know about the Romulans' plans."
"What makes you think I know anything?" He stepped into her personal space, growling low under his breath.
"You said you learned their language. Figured out their plans. You may not have had time to save your crew, but whatever you know could help us save so many other lives."
He glared down at her, making her feel even smaller than she already was. He had seemed lean from a distance, but up close she could see all his muscles rippling under his shirt, the sheer bulk of them making her want to cower. She stayed standing, however, not allowing her eyes to flicker from his.
"I would have thought," he began slowly, his voice still dangerously low. "That someone who had been through what you had would understand."
"I do." She nodded minutely. "But I don't think you can take them on on your own. And you know that. We have no intention of letting this go. The Romulans will pay the price for what they have done. Help us. After that, what you do is up to you."
He stepped back, still staring at her searchingly, "It seems I have underestimated you." Hayley had a feeling she hadn't been meant to hear that. "I'll speak to your Captain."
She exhaled slowly, not realizing she had been holding her breath, "Thank you."
A crash coming from the doorway had her spinning around. Spock stood on the threshold, a tray of food at his feet. His face was neutral but his eyes blazed. He must have seen at least some of that. Had seen how Khan had tried to intimidate her. Or maybe it had looked different to him. In her head she went over exactly how close he had stood, how she hadn't backed down, and how it may have looked from another angle. Eyes wide, she rushed to Spock's side. Grabbing his hand before he had a chance to protest, she sent him everything she was feeling through the connection of their skin. His other hand rose to grip her waist, gently moving her behind him.
"Spock, this is Khan. Khan, this is Spock," she squeezed her T'hy'la's hand with both of hers to show exactly who Spock was to her. Khan tilted his head in understanding. "Spock is the First Officer," she included for good measure. "Spock," she tugged on his hand so that he turned from glowering at the man. "Khan was explaining to me earlier how the Romulans had forced him to make the gas under threat of killing his crew. They ended up killing them anyway, but he's agreed to help us. We should get Jim so they can talk."
He looked at her, his eyes uncharacteristically hard, "What has happened to your wrists?"
She flinched. She had hoped he wouldn't notice that until later. Her eyes flickered to Khan unwillingly and before she could even open her mouth Spock was across the room, Khan at his feet as he pulverized the man's face. Hayley stayed where she was. Experience told her that Spock always acted irrationally when she was injured. More than once in their childhood he'd gotten into fights because some bully had picked on her. Getting in the middle would just make things worse, and she'd possibly get hurt in the process. Instead, she gave the fighting pair a wide berth as she went into her office to her communicator, calling for Jim and Bones to come immediately as well as a few security officers. Hopefully that'd be enough to pull the furious Vulcan off their new passenger.