"...Sssix...Ssseven...Eh...Ei––"
Leonard's right leg cramped, and he collapsed back onto the floor with a grunt.
"...Dammit…"
Apparently his body was still too pissed at him to do ten pushups in one go.
...Still, a couple days before, he could barely do three...so there was that.
Leonard sighed; used the edge of his biobed to pull himself to his feet. The chain did its stupid little rattly–clink.
The doctor knew he was probably pushing himself too hard. The fall had left him with even more stubborn sore spots that refused to go away, no matter how many times he tried to treat them. Out of all those spots, the twinging muscles in his right leg were by far the most annoying.
Leonard sat on the edge of the biobed; rubbed his protesting calf.
Maybe he'd missed a bone fragment in his scans. Some tiny little sliver that was digging into...
...If he had, there wasn't much he could do about it. Couldn't really perform surgery on himself, could he? And the other options...
Leonard shuddered as his brain sent him an image of Khan with a hacksaw...
...It was probably just deep bruising in his extensor digitorum and peroneus tertius muscles. They could be kinda hard to hit with noninvasive tech. Given enough time, they'd heal up on their own.
But he needed to keep active; do a little physical therapy. Leonard wasn't about to let his muscles atrophy. He was already far too wea...
"No," Leonard pinched the bridge of his nose. "Come on, Leonard! Get 'em outta your head."
The doctor stretched; laid down on the biobed; stared at the 240 rusty tiles above him. The same tiles he'd been staring at for...
"Twenty–eight days," he muttered. "Chained to a goddamned biobed for twenty–eight freakin' days..."
A part of Leonard wondered why he bothered to keep track. All it did was remind him that he was about to miss yet another of his daughter's birthdays...
Where the hell was Starfleet? Where the hell was Jim?
...Was anybody even trying to find him?
Leonard closed his eyes.
Of course they were. Jim would never stop looking...unless...
No. Jim wouldn't stop. That kid would never give up on one of his friends...even if all he could do was bring a body back...
Leonard sighed. This wasn't helping. He was still bored, and alone. God, he'd even take Khan's company if it meant he didn't have to be...
The doctor's eyes snapped open; he let out a frustrated laugh.
How twisted must his brain be getting for him to miss Khan?
...Maybe it was just nerves. The day before, Khan'd waltzed in, tossed two days worth of rations at him, and marched back on out without an explanation.
The last time something like that had happened, Leonard ended up wrist deep in the killer's stomach, desperately trying to close a knife wound.
...Yeah. That's all it was. He didn't actually want Khan around: he just wanted to know what the hell was happening...and what the hell was going to pop into his...the...medbay...next.
Leonard looked at the biobed to his left. His blanket and PADD were there. He could always write for awhile...although he was running out of things to say that didn't fall into the 'accidentally give Khan emotional fodder' category…
Maybe he could just take another nap…
Leonard stood to grab his blanket. He'd get a little sleep, and then...
...There were swirling lights in the medbay door. Khan's face started to materialize.
"Fantastic," the doctor grumbled. "Now maybe you can tell me…"
There was a woman in Khan's arms. She was unconscious; her face looked almost grey.
"...What the hell happened?"
Khan rushed to the biobed closest to the bookshelves and gently laid the woman down. He ripped a weird gas mask off his face; turned to Leonard.
Khan looked...desperate.
"Save her," Khan ordered.
Leonard nodded as he limped to the shelves; grabbed a medical tricorder.
"What happened to her?" The doctor asked. "I need to know where ta start."
Khan didn't answer.
"Alright," Leonard muttered. "...A full body scan then."
Leonard reached her biobed and began the scan. He frowned; whacked the medical tricorder.
Was it malfunctioning? It was reading her internal body temperature as…
Leonard touched the woman's forehead.
...She was ice cold.
The doctor's hand jolted back; he stared at Khan.
"What did you do?!"
Khan looked away.
Leonard huffed in disbelief. "Look, I don't know what you're expectin' here, but I'm not sure there's anythin' I can do. She's––"
Khan turned back; grabbed him by the throat. Leonard froze.
"Scan her," Khan growled. "Save her."
"I..I don't know if I––"
Khan squeezed.
Leonard choked. His eyes watered; he nodded.
To the doctor's relief, Khan let go.
Leonard rested a hand on his patient's biobed as he caught his breath. He had a pretty good idea who she was, but he still wasn't sure––
"NOW!"
Leonard scrambled to get back to work.
...It didn't take long to realize that there wasn't a snowball's chance in Hell of saving her.
"Body temperature, five degrees Celsius…" The doctor rasped. He didn't know if Khan wanted to hear the results of the scans or not, but it seemed like it might be the only way to get through to him. "Severe trauma to the kidneys, lungs, heart, liver, br––"
"What kind of trauma?"
Leonard swallowed; looked up. "It looks...like they're in pieces. Like somebody froze her, thawed her out part way...and then hit her with so much force it literally shattered her internal organs...There's nothing I can do."
Khan stared at him.
Leonard didn't dare move, or even look away. He was pretty sure that if he did, then there'd quickly be two dead people in the medbay. All he could do was stand there, and hope––
"I see."
Khan brushed past the doctor; rummaged through the medical supplies.
"Where do you keep the syringes?"
Leonard blinked.
...What the hell was Khan trying to…
...Oh…
But that...
"It won't work," the doctor blurted.
Khan turned back to him.
...And there was the return of the 'skin you alive' eyes…
"What won't work?"
He should just keep quiet, and let Khan...
...No. He had a responsibility to his patient. What Khan was going to do would, at best, just make her suffer...He couldn't let that happen.
"Your blood," Leonard tried to keep the tremor out of his voice. "Maybe...maybe if it was just a couple organs...or if they weren't quite this bad...maybe your blood could save her. But Khan...Her brain is fractured. I can't fix that. The best neurosurgeons in Starfleet can't fix that...Even if your blood saves her life, she'll never be the person she was before...I'm sorry."
...For a moment, Khan's expression was blank.
...For another moment, it looked like the killer was going to cry...
Then Khan lashed out.
Leonard's nose didn't stand a chance.
The doctor collapsed from the force of the blow. He groaned in pain; tried in vain to scramble away from the pissed off Augment that was towering over him.
Khan picked him up; dragged him across the room; slammed him against the storage crates.
Leonard went limp. Fighting Khan now was a sure way to earn more broken bones...and probably a broken neck.
"You are sorry?" Khan seethed. "You did nothing. You did not even try to save her, and yet you are sorry?"
Leonard's eyes were too watery to see the killer's face...but he was pretty sure that was a good thing.
"Tell me," Khan shook him. "Tell me why you could not be bothered to save her?"
The doctor gagged on the taste of copper.
"TELL ME!"
"Would you rather I gave you false hope?" The words tumbled out before Leonard could stop them. "Because...those were the options: false hope, or painful honesty. You told me ta never lie to you again, remember? So, I went for painful––"
"Stop! Just...stop...talking."
Leonard complied. His breath came in short pants as he waited for the next blow...
...Khan dropped him.
Leonard crumpled to the floor; curled into a ball.
Over his pounding heartbeat, Leonard heard footsteps moving away. There was the sound of cloth shuffling; a small huff of air...and then more footsteps, and the hissing of the medbay door.
"Clean yourself up. You're dripping blood everywhere."
...Was...Was it over?
...He wasn't about to question it.
"...'Kay…" Leonard nodded as deliberately as he could.
"I will be back, doctor. I need to...I will be back."
More footsteps; the door hissed shut.
Leonard looked up from his ball of legs and elbows. His nose throbbed, but his eyes were clearing up a bit.
Khan was gone; the body was gone.
...Leonard had never been so glad to be alone in his life.
