= X =
(5 months have past since this began)
2 weeks later
Ever since her father's visit, Khan had been on the best behavior she had ever seen. Of course that behavior only extended to her and no one else it seemed. And while it was refreshing not to be insulted every time she asked what he perceived as a stupid question -though he would release a heavy sigh when she did ask one- was making her weary. Mira knew something was up but she wasn't sure what and so instead of trying to figure it out Mira had called him out on it.
Twice a fight ensued and apologies were not given at later dates, though Mira had tried the first time. Khan had simply accepted her words and pretended nothing had even happened afterwards. Other times, a total of three, Khan had just looked at her and shook his head. There was a look of disappointment in his eyes as he got up from the floor, collected his things and went into his room and didn't emerge until the next day. It was like before, pretending it hadn't happened. After that, Mira simply stopped saying anything about it and acted like everything was normal but kept an eye on him nonetheless.
And so after that, for a week, it was nothing but peace between them. More so now that Puffin was living with her father to Khan's constant relief. Though he still made comments about it smelling and such.
Besides Khan's kind behaviour, he had made a habit of whenever she was in her lab, to join her at some point and begin work on something else she wasn't entirely sure she understood at all. This had annoyed her at first until he had told her his reasons. 'You can spend longer in here if I am around and in your sight. I also have use of your lab, it far exceeds the advances that mine is capable of' Mira, of course, had simply looked at him with a bored expression on her face. Even when he was being kind, he was being selfish it would seem. In all honesty that was why she was always weary of him, she knew the type, his type. Only showing kindness when it suited them, helped them in some way but Mira hadn't cared about it this time. She would allow him to be as selfish as he wanted if it meant she could stay in her lab longer. And so here they were, in her lab working silently away at their own projects until Khan decided that today was going to be different.
"I have a proposition" he said eyes still down as he continued working. Mira looked up from her own work and simply stared at him for a moment before she pulled her brain from work mode "Okay?" she said wondering what he was thinking. "Marcus is still harassing you to seduce me, if you fail to do so he will carry through with his threat and I will have to retrain whomever replaces you" Khan said sounding bored of the topic and while Mira was going to ask how he knew, she quickly shut her mouth and contained her annoyance, he was still hacking her messages. "You know if you wanted to see what I put in the reports and what his responses were, you don't need to hack me you can just ask and I'll show you" Mira said allowing her annoyance to bleed through her words.
She couldn't care less about the fact he was reading her private messages, not like she had anything really personal on them but it was the principle, she wasn't hiding anything. "If that is the case I will amend my ways" Khan said nodding to her and then got back on point. "I think you should give him what he wants, seducing me I mean" And with that, Mira gawked at Khan wondering if she had just heard him correctly. "I'm sorry, super human says what now?" This caused Khan to roll his eyes at her. "You heard what I said". Mira continued her gawking before she pulled herself together and gave him a hard glare.
"How exactly is that going to work?" Mira questioned him and Khan again rolled his eyes at her again, like the answer was so simple. "Easily. You will tell him that you have seduced me and we will pretend when he is around that it has worked, that you have my full trust and I am some love sick dog who has bounded with his jailer, even your mind should be able to comprehend that." And there was the normal Khan insulting her, treating her like a small child whose mind can't and couldn't understand what he was saying but Mira got what he was saying and she knew it wasn't going to… no; couldn't work.
"It wont work, I seriously doubt he'll believe us when he asks someone else if it's true and they say 'He's nicer to her but that's it'" Mira said, saying the last bit in a horrible imitation of the CO and then continued. "And you'd have to pretend to like me and actually call me by my name; my first name. If you even know it, you treat my title like acid in your mouth half the time, I don't even want to imagine you saying my actual name. Not to mention I'm not exactly spy material, this will not work and we don't really like each other, it took us months to reach civility, going from that to 'love sick'… yeah no, not going to work." Mira explained trying to show Khan that it was a horrible idea that would crash and burn to ashes in a matter of seconds. And yes, maybe a small part of her was quaking at what he was suggesting, she was never good at faking anything and pretending to fake fake something… that was a little much for her, she'd blow it in a nano-second.
"It can work; a happy Marcus means a less involved Marcus." Khan explained and again Mira understood the logic and she understood why he wouldn't want Marcus around. It meant he could look for his crew without constantly checking behind his back. Mira saw that instantly, she would be stupid to think Khan wasn't looking for them all over and she knew Marcus figured he would and probably put them in the last place he would think to look on Earth; if they were even on Earth. If Marcus wasn't constantly checking up on Khan, thinking he had him under complete control, then he might get sloppy and leave a clue for Khan to swipe. Khan stood up from his chair and walked around the table to stand just at her side and turned her so she was facing him.
"And for everything else you just said, I can teach you to be better at lying. Faking it. You don't have to feel anything at all, all you have to do is follow my lead," Khan said as he placed a hand under her chin and titled her head up towards him as he leaned down just a bit, voice going low and a seductiveness entering his tone. Mira shook her head "It can't… I'm not good…I'll screw up… and they'll die… I don't want to be responsible for that." She began but stopped as Khan leaned down further towards her, flustered and feeling a blush spread across her cheeks at his closeness.
"It wont happen, I won't let it, it can work Miracle" Khan spoke, voice getting lower. Mira's eyes widened at his use of her name, her full name; no one ever uses it anymore, no one even knows it. Mira had even changed it on the Star Fleet data banks so everyone would simply know her as Mira, save her father but he only ever used it when he was/would scald her for something but this, no this was definitely different.
The way it rolled off his tongue and over his lips, it sent shivers down her spine and goosebumps over her flesh. It was more, he made it seem like so much more than it was ever meant to be. It reminded Mira of a prayer in the darkest of nights, a prayer for hope, for a miracle, a simple word; her name but Khan made it seem like all of those things and more. Khan had moved his hand from under her chin to the back of her head, fingers splaying across the nape of her neck, pulling her towards him as he leaned in more. "Khan." Mira whispered out, trying to bring reality back in but sorely failing, so she brought her hands up placing them on his chest in attempt -barely- to push him away but instead she clenched her hands together, the fabric of his shirt between her fingers.
And without receiving any warning or being told to back away, to stop, Khan leaned the rest of the way in. Head tilted to the side slightly and lips pressed gently to hers, nothing however happened; Khan letting Mira settle before he began moving his lips, slowly, sensually. Khan, taking it slow, giving her one of the most innocent kisses he had ever given to anyone before but Mira was still frozen. Taking it as a sign, Khan begin to pull away but then Mira leaned forward to keep his lips and he smiled to himself. Happy he hadn't pushed too far too soon with her and so the kiss continued.
Mira moved one of her hands, unclenching his shirt and placed it on the back of Khan's head, fingers tangling in his pitch black locks. So it carried on, only growing more heated as time passed until they both pulled away, taking a short break so Mira could catch her breath. As she looked up, Khan stood; still too close with that smoldering look in his eyes but he wasn't out of breath. Mira continued to stare into his eyes, not finding the willpower to look away from him and this drive to just have more, to taste more came into her head. Mira turned her gaze down to Khan's lips, 'They're shaped like a cupids' bow' Mira thought in amusement and then pulled him towards her again, lips crashing into one another. Khan had been caught off guard for barely a second before he righted himself, bringing more heat, more passion into this kiss. Mira felt Khan's hand move from her hair and slid down her back slowly, in time with his other hand which was sliding down the other side of her body but was distracted from them when she felt Khan's tongue trace her bottom lip. Another craving pushed through and Mira wanted to meet his tongue with hers and so she parted her lips.
Mira hadn't noticed when Khan had gripped her outer thighs and hauled her up and onto her work table until she pulled away to get another lung full of air, noting that Khan had placed himself between her legs, pushing himself against Mira and hands firmly placed and kneading her ass through her uniform skirt.
And for some reason that seemed to have done it, bringing Mira firmly back down to earth, she was going to say something but Khan was leaning in again and before she could move her head and rebuff him they stopped, frozen in place in horror -at least for Mira- when they both heard clapping. Both instantly pulling away like they had been electrocuted, Mira moving to hop off the table but couldn't when Khan had stood still glaring towards the person standing in the doorway. Mira pushed her hand that rested on his chest causing Khan to look at her for a moment.
Khan stepped back and helped Mira off the lab table before she turned and look towards the door and saw none other then Marcus standing there looking very much like the smug bastard that he was. Mira instantly became flustered again from the situation she had been caught in and was already out of breath from Khan as she stared wide eyed, probably looking like a deer caught in car lights. And Khan standing beside her, breathing at a normal rate or his normal rate at least. Hair slightly tousled and death glare directed at Marcus. Marcus, still wearing that same smug expression and ignoring Khan's look completely, stepped into the room and nodded at them both. "Commander and Doctor, I am so glad to see you two getting along." he mocked which caused Mira to become more flustered. Marcus then turned his full attention to Khan. "I need to speak with the good Doctor alone, I'll meet you in your lab in no more then five minutes" Marcus told him and, still with a deathly glare on his face Khan looked to Mira and then was gone.
Marcus then turned his full attention on the flustered Mira. "I am glad you finally did as you were told, I was dreading replacing you." he commented laughing at her. Mira wasn't sure if it was her, the situation she had been caught in or his own smugness but she was getting more flustered but a rush of anger flared to the surface, not enough however to subdue her uneasiness. "Uh sir, that's not… what I mean to say is" Mira stuttered out, trying to find the right words. "It's okay Sullivan, I was joking. Though I am disappointed I had to learn about this way, by walking in on you two, when did it start?" Marcus demanded and Mira stuttered out an answer. "Today... uh it started today. That's why I haven't messaged you about it" Mira said correcting herself as she talked. Marcus nodded and then smiled at her. "Good, hate to think you would hold out on me" he said, a warning in his tone and Mira shook her head.
"No sir, never" she spoke softly and received yet another nod. "Go fix yourself Sullivan, you're as red as a tomato. Good day." And with that horrible joke, he was gone and once out of eyesight and hearing range Mira simply dropped her head to the table. 'Oh My God' she thought mortified. She wasn't sure what had happened, she knew obviously but damn. Mira pulled her arm up and placed the tips of her fingers on her lips, now slightly swollen. 'That was something else. I mean I've had kisses before, damn good kisses but that was… wow.' Mira thought. She had never been kissed like that before and it surprised Mira that she wanted to be kissed like that again and more but Mira reminded herself it had only been pretend… no real feelings behind it but damn if she wasn't fooled.
As she thought, Mira had remembered what she felt, it wasn't so much her actual feelings that was shocking her. No, her feelings had -for the most part- remained the same for Khan. It was the urges, the instinct that surprised her the most. The need, the want for Khan to continue, even now as she was embarrassed to hell and back it was still there in the pit of her stomach trying to claw it's way up. Mira cringed again as she thought back on a few things but Marcus's interruption coming back into the forefront of her mind. She could only imagine what Marcus had thought when he walked in on the two looking like they were five seconds away from tearing each others clothes off. With those thoughts, Mira cringed more and put her hand back down, going back into mortification mode.
'If this is going to work, we'll need ground rules… lots and lots of ground rules and he is never kissing me again, he can hold my hand. I don't care if I'm being a child about it, hand holding is all he gets out of this "pretend relationship"'.
Khan smiled to himself as he leaned against his lab table, the entire thing had gone better then he had hoped it would. He thought that Mira would have only allowed the small innocent kiss but no, she had taken it further. She had led him and Marcus had interrupted at the perfect moment. Khan had been annoyed at first when he had been interrupted but then he saw the advantages of it. At first when he had found out about the 'Seduction Plan' he had been annoyed and angry as hell that they thought he would submit to something like that, that a relationship of any sort would make him back down but like with the interruption he had seen the advantages of it. Even in the less then desired situation he currently found himself in, Khan didn't back down or submit.
No, he simply widened his scope to use anything and everything to help him get ahead of it all. Khan's smile grew. He thought it would have been harder to seduce the young doctor, to trick her but it looked like she was going to be clay in his hands, easy to handle and manipulate. Khan was brought from his musings as he heard footsteps and quickly changed his features, a blank look with pretend rage about being caught burning behind his eyes. "Sorry I interrupted you and the Doctor." Marcus's sarcasm dripping from his words as he walked further into the lab. "Do you know how to tell the truth? I am curious what it would look like on your face." Khan said in a calm tone, it wasn't a lie honestly, he had wondered what it would look like.
To see the man who never told anything but a lie; suddenly tell someone the truth. But then he doubted it would ever happen. He only told the truth when he had no other choice, when whoever he was talking to already knew it but even then he would probably try and spin it around. To add something false in.
Marcus simply skipped over what Khan had said and carried on "She said it only just started today, did it?" Marcus asked and Khan spun on his heel to face the man, a glare with of hate marring his features "I will not talk about this with you!" Khan demanded, trying to sound as if he was offended in some way, Marcus to his credit didn't even flinch. He just kept that smug glare on his face the whole time. "You will do whatever I say" Marcus said, not a care in the world as he walked around the lab picking things up, giving them a once over and then placing them back down.
"No." Khan said, genuinely meaning it this time and like every time Khan seemed defiant in any way Marcus would simply pull his metaphorical leash "Then you don't care about your crew anymore?" Marcus said a look of victory in his eyes as Khan appeared to back down. "She did not lie." Khan said after a short while, eyes narrowed as he watched Marcus, who simply nodded as his smug smile got bigger.
"Good good, I do worry with her morality that she would go to your side and help you. Hate to dispose of a tool that still has too many uses" Khan paused as he looked at Marcus, a little dread entering his system as his words registered with him… 'Did he really threaten her?' Khan thought. He may not have been the most moral person in the world but he had his code for what it was worth and using someone who was stuck in nearly as bad a situation as he was in wasn't something he liked to do. Though Khan had little doubt he would still use Mira but more then likely in a different way. With what he was doing, he wanted her to suffer for her lies, to watch as her world burned around her and what she loved, cherished most was destroyed. "You are threatening her." Khan said, his anger now boiling beneath the surface of his skin.
"What gave you that idea? Mira is doing this of her own free will, why she would ever go for you though. Beyond me." Marcus laughed out and Khan wasn't sure, like he had said the man was a liar through and through and because of this even the boldest lie could be read as the truth and Khan didn't know if what he said was the truth or a lie, at least on the front of the threats she admitted to receiving from Marcus. As Khan was going to say something else, what Marcus had said repeated itself, he had called her a tool with many uses. Khan clamped his mouth shut and thought, a Doctor has many different uses but there is always someone else to replace them and while they may not have been as good as the one they were replacing, they retained the same uses. No, there was something else meant by that, that she had uses outside of her title. "What uses did you mean?" Khan questioned and Marcus simply shrugged while raising an eye brow. "Mira? She's a good Doctor." Khan instantly saw it for the lie that it was and got the answer he wanted, she was more. Khans mind instantly jumping to an Agent of Marcus's Section 31.
With one last nod, Marcus began for the door and stopped when it began to hiss open. "I nearly forgot, I had security confiscate the blood sample you took from Mira and the results you were waiting for have been wiped." And with that, Marcus stepped out into the hallway and began walking off slowly before he added one last thing. "Try not to break her, her father can be such a little bitch at times and I don't want to deal with it."
Marcus knew Khan could still hear him as he spoke and once he was done, he left and missed the smile that spread across Khans face. While he had genuinely gotten angry at one or two points during the conversation -if one would call it that- and had been genuinely pissed off he wouldn't be able to study her blood sample anymore, he had however played Marcus for a fool. Pretending to be offended when asked about Mira and now he had more answers to his questions. And now he also had an inkling to what Mira really was, of course Marcus hadn't simply assigned a Doctor to him.
