"We've got a pulse!"

Abigail teetered on the edge of consciousness, watching dizzily as a blurry Dr. McCoy shown a light in each of her eyes. Clamping her eyes shut against the bright assault, she shook her head slowly, taking a deep breath in through her nose. Her brow furrowed as she slowly rolled her head from side to side. Where was she? Someone was calling her name, but it sounded far away. A large hand was squeezing her own and it sounded as if someone was yelling at her. All she wanted was to fall back to where she had been. It was quiet and dark there and no one was yelling at her. She took another deep breath in through her nose and suddenly snapped back into the present.

Starfleet medical personnel were scurrying around what seemed to be the Med Bay. People groaned in pain all around her, but she seemed to be the one closest to death. Why had McCoy let her live? I.v.'s hung from her right arm which was restrained to the bed, her left hand was being painfully squeezed by a dark figure that loomed over her. Everything was too bright and a fog hung over her mind, making it hard to think.

"Abigail, come back to me," a thick voice begged, causing her to roll her head in its direction. Khan stood over her, eyes uncharacteristically watery, but a tiny smile curling the corner of his lips with relief.

"Khan," she whispered, her voice scratchy to the point of unrecognition. Closing her eyes for a moment, she took another deep breath in to clear her foggy thoughts. "Wha-what's going on?"

"I, uh-" he shook his head, appearing to fight for alertness. "They're putting us back." His voice was too thick with grogginess to sound as angry as it had the last time she heard him speak.

Abigail frowned, trying to decipher what Khan was attempting to get across. Her breathing was heavy and broke up her speech as she began. "Put...putting us back...where?" Why were the two of them in such a foggy state of mind?

"In the tubes," Khan clarified slowly, his face determined to fight what seemed to be pulling him under. "They're putting us back in the cryotubes."

Reality hit Abigail like a ton of bricks and her eyelids flew open. Hurriedly she sat up, pulling the i.v.'s from her right arm and loosening the restraint enough to pull her arm free. She turned to Khan, hearing McCoy yelling for people to hold her down as her fellow Augment, sank onto the bed to her left. Before she could pull the i.v. from his arm, her own arms were quickly pinned to the bed by four or five men that had come out of nowhere. She struggled, eyes locked on McCoy who seemed to be more sad than frightened. Another blue uniformed figure walked up and stood beside the doctor, his hands clasped behind his back. Spock. He seemed angrily satisfied, watching as Khan finally lost consciousness next to her. His dark eyes flicked over to her as she struggled against the men surrounding her.

McCoy and Spock walked over to her right side, the doctor filling a large syringe with a clear liquid. Abigail began fighting harder, suddenly realizing the men had her pinned to the bed. Tears stung her eyes as she recalled the enclosing fear of the icy cryotube and she locked her eyes on McCoy.

"Please! Please for the love of God, don't shove me back in one of those bloody things!' Genuine tears streamed down her face, the fear in her eyes palpable as McCoy finished filling the syringe. "Spock," she changed her tactic, zeroing in on the Vulcan, "think about this, it isn't logical! When the Klingons attack, they will consume Earth! They will wipe all of you off the face of the planet, unless you keep me awake! Khan and I can lead you to-" She gasped as the doctor injected her with what she assumed to be an anesthetic. "No, no, no..." she whispered, her vision quickly going out of focus.

"Don't worry, Ms. Soong," Spock assured her, watching as the woman slowly stopped fighting. "We won't be putting you back in your cryogenic sleep. You'll be staying with us for quite a bit longer."

-Three months later-

Every day that went by Abigail cataloged in her strikingly acute memory. Every drug they pumped into her system; every bone that they broke, she would remember. It had been three months and sixteen days since Khan had been submitted back into his cryogenic sleep. Three months and sixteen days since Kirk had died and been revived, and three months and sixteen days since she had been admitted to the Starfleet head quarter's medical testing lab in London. Not one of those days went by where she did not imagine seeking revenge on Captain Kirk and Commander Spock for the pain and suffering that she had undergone at their hands. Oh, but the revenge was not just for her, no. The revenge was also for Khan, her partner, her captain, her lover, who had been once again frozen so as to not wreak havoc as they once had.

Her hatred for the crew of the Starship Enterprise burned within her hotter than a thousand suns; not to mention the fact that the only reason that they had saved her life three months prior was so that they could perform tests of their own. As if the data the late Admiral Marcus had collected from Khan had not been enough, she thought to herself as she ignored the questions thrown at her from her doctor for the day. The tests she had been put through were not particularly creative, mainly testing the perimeters of her healing capabilities compared to that of a human being. Every day was dull, usually consumed with an array of injections and perhaps the breaking of a bone or ligament. The ligaments hurt, but they had ceased testing that particular structure when she had lashed out and and nearly killed the physician in question.

On the one hundred and seventh day, it played out the same. She was injected with an array of simple chemicals soon to be used when interrogating particularly tricky criminals. At four in the afternoon, she was escorted back to her room and hooked up to various i.v.'s and a heart monitor to record the after effects. Her limbs were weak from the earlier pain and her head was swimming with distracting thoughts of Khan when a very unwelcome figure stepped through the doorway.

"Captain," she said coolly, ignoring the pounding in her ears as hatred flooded her mind.

"Oh, look at you, sweetheart. They've got you hooked up to all kinds of nonsense don't they?" Kirk replied, watching the screen of the heart monitor remain steady before walking over to her right side and looking down into her beautiful face.

"You shouldn't be here," she murmured evenly, keeping her eyes straight forward, "I'd hate to inform the good doctor of your distractions."

Jim smirked, sitting on the edge of the bed as if she were a sick family member and took her hand in both of his. "I'm sure he won't mind. I'm just checkin' in on ya. You know how I worry." He winked as she rolled her eyes and turned her head towards him.

She didn't reply, and simply stared with a measured expression into the captain's face. He had not scarred from his dealings a few months back, and his ego was properly stroked without a bruise in sight. The fearless flirting he maintained one sidedly with her seemed to somehow plump it further even though she had so blatantly shown her distaste for him. She maintained eye contact as he slowly wet his lips and prepared to carry on his side of the conversation.

"So, sweetheart, have they been treatin' you well around here? You just say the word and I'll kick them to the curb," he teased, raising his eyebrow in hopes of her joining in on his game.

"You know, Captain," she began, watching his lips turn up at the corners as she engaged him, "if you're science monkeys didn't have so much at their disposal, you would have been dead the moment you walked in here." Abigail's cool exterior was unwavering, yet her golden eyes burned up at Kirk with a fiery displeasure.

"Awh, you don't mean that, beautiful," he argued, his face lingering dangerously close to her's. "You like me. You like that I flirt with you."

Abigail's resolve never wavered as she stared back at the man in his ridiculous game of chicken. Who would turn away first, and who would maintain the upper hand? He was far too close for comfort, and it took every ounce of self control she had to not rear back and head butt him clean across the room. His blue eyes were bright, fully prepared to sustain an injury for kissing her if it meant he wasn't the one who had backed down. Hell, he thought, she's gorgeous. It would be a disservice to back down. There would be no satisfying look of disappointment if he pulled away anyway, Abigail wasn't his usual choice of woman. Abigail was incredibly strong, physically and mentally, and she didn't need a man to tell her that. He briefly wondered what Khan would do if he ever found out that one of the men that he hated the most had kissed his girlfriend and a new kind of grin tugged at his lips. Worth it.

"It's dull actually," she said suddenly, careening back towards the conversation Kirk had all but forgotten about, "and I don't like you."

A soft chuckle escaped his lips as he remained about an inch away from her calculated expression. "Oh, you don't have to lie to me, sweetheart," he murmured, eyes on her set lips, "I can keep a secret."

Abigail narrowed her eyes daringly, curling her fingers into a fist as it remained hostage in his larger hands. "Whatever helps you sleep at night, Kirk," she sighed, jaw set in frustration with the arrogant captain. A thought flitted across her mind, what would Khan do when she told him that this idiot had kissed her? Probably inquire as to why he was not admitted into the medical wing himself.

A smirk crossed the young captain's lips as he tilted his head to the right and leaned in to press his lips against her's. She didn't react; her eyes set in a displeased glare while Kirk's lips moved against her own. He was trying to get a rise out of her, or to at the very least get her to kiss him back. Slowly he pulled back, blue eyes gazing into her bright golden one's as he waited for her to say or do something. Her eyes narrowed further, anger building in her chest as her fist connected with with his nose. Unfortunately for her, there was no satisfying snap to indicate that the bone had broken because of her weakened muscles, but the blood that dripped from the hand that clamped over his face brought a smirk to her lips.

"I recommend you not try that again, Captain," she muttered through her teeth, watching Kirk laugh despite the blood in his mouth.

"Oh, believe me, sweetheart," he grinned, pressing the call button by her bed to alert a nurse or doctor, "I just might." He winked at her as McCoy and a nurse hurried into the room, sedative in hand.

McCoy looked at Kirk in confusion as he held a hand to his bloody nose. "What'd you do, Jim?" the doctor asked, his brow furrowed as the nurse pressed down the plunger of the syringe.

The drug slid through the clear tubing, seeping into her vein through the needle as she watched the two Starfleet personnel argue in front of her. Her head fell back against the pillow and her breathing became deeper through her nose, but she fought to stay awake as she always did. Every muscle in her body ached to pull her under sedation; her limbs feeling extraordinarily heavy against the sheets of the bed. The captain smiled over at her, pressing the gauze that was offered to him to his nose.

"Well, Bones," Kirk began, sounding a little funny with his nose plugged, "I won a game of chicken." He looked proud of himself, his arrogance creating an aura around him.

"Bullshit," she scoffed, hearing the captain's laugh echo through her head as she was relentlessly pulled under.