Hannah sat up tenderly, wincing at the pull on her healing wound. Whatever medical treatments Star Fleet had developed were bounds better than what she was used to, but the new skin still complained as it stretched with her movement. Kirk stared her down, arms folded across his chest and fury blazing from him. The tension in his shoulder looked as though his tendons were going to snap from the strain, his jawline sharp from the clenching of his teeth; biting back a flurry of anger-driven accusations. Hannah met his gaze for less than a second before he tore his eyes away, disgust filling the action. Hannah flinched. The anger and disdain in that simple movement hurt deeper than the stab wound had. She closed her eyes for a long second, willing the dread in her stomach, the warning at the back of her mind, to subside. It didn't.

"What did you do?" Kirk asked, his voice low. It trembled with the effort of controlling his fury. Hannah swung her feet to the floor, inspecting them intensely, as though she was surprised to find them still attached to her. Kirk repeated his demand, this time anger fighting its way to the surface. The bite in his words drew Hannah's gaze up, and she stood, folding her hands behind her back. She was the picture of a respectful Ensign talking to her Captain. It didn't suit her.

"I did what I had to," Hannah answered quietly, cryptically. "I didn't have much choice." Her voice was utterly flat, devoid of any of her usual quirks and inflections. Kirk finally looked back at her, and Hannah wished he hadn't. The cold glare that greeted her was unlike anything she'd ever seen from him. She willed her face to be neutral, impossible to read. Impossible to see her heart shatter.

"You disobeyed my direct order," Kirk began, his breathing still erratic, his chest heaving with each forcibly controlled breath. He ripped his arms away from his chest, curling his fingers into fists in an effort to direct his anger somewhere else. Hannah's mask cracked for half a second and she frowned.

"You didn't give me an order. You just upped and left without me-"

-"I told you to stay out of the way," Kirk snapped back. Hannah threw her head back, trying to find the words in the air above her. Her voice faltered as she struggled to vocalise her objections;

"I-uh- What? When?" She demanded, spluttering out the words as anger piled into her as well. The laugh that choked out from her contained no mirth, only scorn. More a scoff than a laugh, she seemed to stop floundering, her words now pointed, focused and dangerous. "You didn't tell me shit, Kirk. You just left me there- like I was, like I'm nothing more than a pet! Like I'm expendable. Like I'm a fucking liability," Hannah flung her arms around wildly during her speech, turning on the spot and stalking away from Kirk. He followed, retaliating:

"Paris was supposed to tell you to stay-"

-"I'm not your fucking dog-"

-"out of the way. Not to encourage your killing spree!" His voice rose in volume and pitch in equal measures. His nostrils flared as he tried to calm his breathing down. Hannah stared at him, a twitch in her jaw was the only sign of a reaction. Her stillness was unnerving. She held Kirk's gaze for an entire minute and then shook her head slightly, turned heel and strode from the Med Bay.

Kirk stood still for a moment in Med Bay, not quite sure whether he was meant to go after her or not. He knew he probably was supposed to, go reprimand her at the very least. She did just commit murder on an enormous scale... and yet something held him back. He could quite place it, but something seemed wrong and it glued him in place in the Med Bay, uncertain of what to do.

"Jim, what the fuck?" McCoy spoke with his usual elegance. "What killing spree? What has happened?" Kirk stared straight ahead and then looked at his friend. The helplessness in Kirk's eyes was not something McCoy was used to seeing.

"Honestly, I don't know," Kirk replied. "She saved us, but I don't know how." The silence held itself in the air for a moment, then McCoy raised an eyebrow.

"Ask Spock?" He suggested, at the same moment Kirk announced:

"I'm going to ask Spock."

McCoy rolled his eyes as Kirk strode out of the Med Bay, looking somewhat confused. He crossed his arms, paused and then seemed to suddenly realise Hannah had left a few minutes before. He walked back into his office muttering under his breath:

"Fine, it's fine. If she opens her wounds it's not like it's my problem, I'm only the CMO, but fine."

Hannah let out a low hiss as the wound on her side stretched out, her arm reaching up over her head. She couldn't wait for the skin to gain back its elasticity and she would be able to move again. The cup of coffee sat in front of her, untouched, the report unwritten. She knew she would inevitably have to write one, so she had decided to get a head start on it. Own up to her own crime. It was not going well. Hannah glanced up at the door as it slid open, and quickly jerked it back down as she saw Kirk enter. She peeked through the curtain of hair that shielded her from his view, praying he hadn't noticed her.

Luckily for her, Sulu, Scotty and Keenser all chose that moment to join her.

"Didnae fret, the captain is not coming here," Scotty nudged her with his elbow, trying to draw her gaze upwards. It did not work. Hannah stared stoically at her PADD and pretended to use it, for half a second before glancing up at him. Sulu shrugged at her and scooped up the food into his mouth.

"Can we not talk about the Klingons again?" He grumbled. "It's all anyone has mentioned in the past week-"

-"It's been two days," Hannah cut in flatly. Sulu fixed her with a glare that would have made anyone back down, but Hannah just raised an eyebrow at him and let a slight smirk form at the corners of her mouth. Raising the coffee cup slightly, she added: "Remember Sulu, I apparently just slaughtered an entire Klingon ship. I ain't afraid of no Sulus."

Sulu rolled his eyes at her comment, and scoffed. Hannah grinned back and finally drank her now-cold coffee. Gulping it down awkwardly, she coughed a little before speaking again.

"But I'm with Sulu, the Klingons are old news- Scotty you asked out that girl yet?" She grinned across at Scotty, whose eyes grew suddenly wide. He choked on the mouthful of toast he had just taken, and slammed a hand across his mouth to stop him spraying crumbs everywhere. He was mostly successful. Mostly. Sulu, Hannah and Keenser all waited expectantly for a response, grinning manically at the Chief Engineer. When he had finished spluttering his food down, he let out a feeble:

"Wha-at," his voice skipping on the words. Hannah raised an eyebrow at him, and pushed his shoulder lightly.

"Oh come on," Hannah dragged out the word with glee. "You know the one- she's kinda short, got this really cute chin length brown hair… she's always in here on her off hours reading something. What's her name-"

"Frankie," Sulu offered. Scotty glared at him. Hannah grinned. The easy conversation was a great distraction for her, and Hannah was endlessly grateful.

The door made its announcement, proclaiming there was someone at the door. Kirk ignored it, he'd had one hellish day and he did not have the energy to deal with anymore problems today. The door seemed to mock him in it's obstinate, immoveable structure. He might have refused entry to the person outside, but not knowing who it was now bugged him.

"Kirk, it's me," A voice came through the door. Hannah. Kirk returned to his desk and to his drink, and continued to ignore her. "Kirk, come on. Let me in," The voice rose slightly, speaking louder but also a tinge of hurt coming into her voice.

"I'm not in," He answered, almost sullenly. He knew he sounded childish, but he couldn't quite bring himself to see her just yet. Spock had explained to him, in his condescending manner, that in fact Hannah's presence on the Klingon ship might not have lead to any deaths. She had somehow manipulated the sensors to show only her life sign, leading the other Klingon ships to believe she had slaughtered them all.

"Of course you aren't." Kirk could almost hear the eye roll in the dry comment. Not deigning to respond to her, not able to respond to her, Kirk twisted the glass around in his hands; once, twice, three times. And paused, and downed its contents. There he stood, by his desk but unable to sit, one ear to the door and his mind in a whirl.

Hannah sat outside the room, her back pressed against the door. The PADD in her hand twisted many times over, as she tried to form the words in her head. Her sentences were incoherent, incomprehensible, her mind a mess of "please"s and "i'm sorry"s when the door slid open, and she nearly fell backwards. She scrambled upright, floundering inelegantly to look Kirk in the eye. When she met his gaze, only to find the cold anger she'd seen in the Med Bay, her heart sank towards her stomach. She thrust out the PADD towards him, and stammered over her words.

"My… my account of what happened. Thought you might need it," Hannah turned away from her captain and looked to her feet. Lifting a hand to the back of her neck, she rubbed a tender spot a bit too aggressively, leaving a red pressure mark, hidden by the swathes of hair. Hannah's eye flickered back up, and the word tumbled out before she could catch it: "Jim…" She trailed off a little helplessly, and didn't get any further with her apology. But it was all that was needed. On hearing his own first name, Kirk's gaze softened and he took the PADD off her, allowing the door to slide back shut between them. The door closed with a finality that caused something in the pit of Hannah's stomach to twist itself over and over. She swallowed hard, clenching the muscles in her jaw briefly, before turning heel and striding away, an almost imperceptible hitch in her step.

Hannah wandered around the decks of The Enterprise until she found the place she was subconsciously looking for. The 'view-deck', as she had dubbed it. It was a large room with next to nothing in it, but the contents was not what she came from. A large window stretched the length of the room, with a bench that protruded out just below it, supporting struts appearing every three feet or so. Just enough room to sit with her back against the struts, her legs stretched out on the bench. The window curved around, allowing her to see the whole expanse of the sky, stretching out for an eternity, the splatterings of stars glinting cheerily, the faint haze of a distant nebula teasingly just out of sight.

Here it was that Hannah sat, blanket over her knees, mug of tea in hand, for hours.

Her head rested against the window, the cool glass seeping the heat from her forehead, the ever presence, ever so faint, trembles of the engine rumbling underneath her. Hannah gazed out into space, soaking in the possibilities it held, greedily drinking in the infinity laid before her. The tea cradled in her hands, warmth filled her. An ease almost settled within her, the turbulent emotions of the last few days subsiding slightly.

She heard the doors to the View-Deck open, but didn't register the sound fully until someone coughed from behind her. Slowly, she dragged her gaze away from the sprawling stars, and met Kirk's gaze.

"Oh," She couldn't help the sound from spilling out, but Kirk didn't seem to mind. He held out a comm-badge towards her. Her own comm-badge. She sheepishly took it, and pulled her feet closer towards her, allowing him to sit next to her. Kirk sat, awkwardly, facing towards her, leaning on the next strut across.

"I'm sorry-" They both chorused, before awkwardly falling back into a silence. Kirk fiddled with the hem of Hannah's blanket, looking down at it closely. He cleared his throat then began;

"I should have let you explain before I assumed-" He cut off abruptly when Hannah placed a hand atop of his, a reassuring warmth. He looked up at her and she smiled half-heartedly.

"I should have told you what I was doing, but I thought if your reaction was genuine…" She trailed off this time, returning her hand to her tea, and looking back up at the stars.

They sat for a while without speaking, before Kirk broke the silence again.

"Why here?" He asked, his voice soft and low. Hannah didn't look away from the endless night before responding.

"I've always liked to see the sky," She began slowly. "When," She faltered on her words, and stared stoically out at the night, "When That happened, we were in the basement. We couldn't see the sky. We couldn't see much, to be honest. We were just trapped in this endless darkness- because of course they wouldn't waste electricity on us- and the only times we got out, it was day time. So the night sky became a safe haven for me. So long as I could see the sky, and the stars, I was free. I would be okay so long as the stars were above me, and I had the moon's light to see by." Hannah glanced across to Kirk, and saw the pity in his eyes. She hated it, but she kept speaking; "Whenever I had a bad night, I'd come look up at the sky and I'd be able to shake myself out of it. But now everything is the sky and nothing is tying me down, and I feel so lost and disjointed that coming here- sitting here and just looking out at the sky makes me feel safe, you know?

"But the stars are different out here. They change every day, and I don't know where I am, or…" Hannah trailed off and looked over at Kirk. He gently gripped her hand, reassuring. Hannah smiled sadly back at him, and placed the tea on the floor. Shuffling around on the bench, she rested her head in his shoulder, a comforting arm draped around her shoulders.

"You scared me," Kirk said quietly, as Hannah laid back on to him. "That woman on the Klingon ship, she wasn't the Hannah I thought I knew. I couldn't see anything of you in her."

There's more of her in me than you could ever realise, Jim, Hannah thought, but she held her tongue, and simply looked out to the endless night. She felt her stomach sink, knowing herself to be both that woman, vicious and unashamed of her actions, and the girl sat here. She squashed down the feeling of dread that rose within her, cradling the tea close to her chest as a comfort. The weight of Kirk's arm grounded her in this weightless moment, and she curled imperceptibly closer to

"Promise me you won't do anything like that without telling me first?" Kirk asked, tugging her gaze back up to him. Hannah lifted her head, and lightly pressed a kiss into Kirk's cheek.

"I promise," She whispered. Kirk pressed his lips into her hair, three unspoken words hovering just out of reach. Both of them didn't say anything more, the words they felt dangling in the air just in front of them, but it was too soon to say them. Too much in this moment; Kirk was still somewhat angry with Hannah, Hannah was still too hurt to open herself up further. The two individuals, so brave when they were being selfless, were cowards when it came to being selfish. And so the ship, and the stars and the endless void whispered silently the words that they could not bring themselves to say:

I love you.