Icicles 5
Disclaimer: do not own Star trek
Marla anxiously fixed her hair in front of the mirror. She glanced at the clock. Six thirty. She hadn't been on a proper date in, well two centuries technically. Napoleon trilled on the counter next to her. She gave him a quick scratch before returning to fussing with her hair.
She adjusted her skirt again before going to sit on the couch and wait. Maybe reviewing Monday's lesson plan would help calm herself down. The previous day she had opened her files to find John had thrown everything back in without sorting it all back out. Come to think of it, she hadn't seen John at all yesterday. She had hoped they could go for tea after work, but since he hadn't been in his office, she hadn't been able to ask him if he still wanted to go. They had only known each other for a month, so it was doubtful he would want to go.
She had been right about the rumors. Friday afternoon, she had a few women stare at her in the bathroom. As she left, she heard them talk about how she was involved with Harrison since she was seen leaving with him. She had gone back in and informed them that they were wrong, much to their embarrassment.
She shrugged it off. He was probably holed up in his lab working on something. She flipped through the lesson plan. She barely got to the second page when the doorbell rang. Her stomach lurched as she got up and walked to the door. She swung it open to see Fred standing there, flowers in hand.
"You look…wow." Fred stammered. "These are for you." He held the flowers out.
"Thank you. Come in, let me put these in the kitchen and put Napoleon in." Marla took the flowers and walked back inside. Fred followed her and closed the door behind him.
"Here, let me get Napoleon for you." Fred bent down and found the Tribble on the air vent. He scooped him up and put him in the ferret cage.
"Thanks."
"Well, shall we?" Fred smiled.
"Sure."
As they got to the front lobby, Fred held his elbow out.
"Shall I escort you through the modern San Francisco, my dear lady?"
"That would be lovely, Lieutenant Kraft." Marla took his arm and leaned in on his shoulder. As they got to the main road, Fred hailed a cab.
"So how was your day?" Fred asked as they were settled.
"Alright. Cleaned the apartment. Got some groceries. Scarlett came over for an hour or so."
"Did she now?"
"Yes. She dropped off a key to her apartment because I'm feeding Nyan Nyan the cat while she's in Tokyo next week since she lives upstairs."
"I see."
"We're going down to Fisherman's Wharf?" Marla turned and looked at Fred.
"Yes. You might actually recognize this place."
"What? Where?" Marla grinned.
"I'm not telling you." Fred teased. "You're going to be surprised."
"Really? Oh come on, tell me."
"Nope."
"Please?"
"Nope." Fred tapped her on the nose as she leaned over to playfully scowl at him. "Alright fine, look out the window."
"Bubba Gump?" Marla laughed. "It's still here?"
"Yeah."
"Wow." Marla laughed in disbelief.
"I thought we could use some familiarity." Fred shrugged. "I know it's not the nicest, classiest, upscale place in town, but-"
"It's great." Marla interrupted and smiled.
Andrea tucked a blonde curl behind her ear. The wind whipped her hair violently, the fog clouding her view. She took a shaky breath, tasting the salty air. It was freezing, dark and wet. She could only see what the light above her showed. She gripped on to one of the cables as best she could. Her clothes were soaked from the mist.
Andrea stood on the rail of the Golden Gate Bridge.
"HEY!"
Andrea turned to see a young man in a safety coat. Tears began streaming down her face.
"What are you doing this for? Would you like to talk?" The young man approached her.
Andrea shook her head.
"Okay, well why don't you listen to me talk then?" He was getting very close.
"Don't come any closer!" Andrea managed.
The young man stopped.
"Alright, alright. I'll stay back here. My name's Peter. What's yours?"
"Andrea."
"Hey, Andrea. That's a nice name. I know things look bad right now, but it's gonna get better. It's going to get so much better." Peter talked calmly and gently. "I promise. Come on down and we'll talk about what's going on and see what we can do to resolve it."
"I'm an Icicle. I have no one. I am alone."
"Hey, I know that isn't true. You have a support group? There's one that meets at the hospital."
"I know. It's not helping. Nothing is helping. I killed myself once before and I'll do it again."
"But this is a fresh start. You can be whatever, whomever you want to be."
"I want to be dead. I want to be with my family on the other side. I wanted to stay dead but apparently my death wasn't actually even death but an imitation form of it!"
"This isn't your time Andrea. Come down. Please. I want to be there for you, I want to help, but you have to come down." Peter took a few steps forward while Andrea gazed out over the water.
Her eyes whipped over at the movement.
"I said don't come any closer!" She squealed and began to lean forward.
"Okay, okay." Peter stopped.
Andrea wobbled and Peter inhaled sharply. She flailed with her free arm and Peter rushed forward and grabbed her, pulling her off the railing.
"NO, NO, NO, NO! LET ME GO! LET ME DIE!" Andrea screamed and thrashed. Several other people in the neon green coats began running over.
"It's okay. It's going to be okay, Andrea." Peter attempted to calm her down.
Twenty minutes later, Andrea sat soaking wet in a warm office, hot chocolate in hand and a shock blanket around her shoulders.
Someone was on the phone with her counselor at the hospital.
"Hey, Andrea." Peter knelt beside her with dry clothes.
Andrea felt herself well up.
"No, don't cry. Come here." Peter held out his arm and Andrea nearly flew into his chest, sobbing. He wrapped the shock blanket tighter around her and held her.
The woman on the phone with the hospital stood and walked out.
"Andrea, they've requested you be released into the hospital's care to keep an eye on you."
"Can I go with her?" Peter asked.
"No. I want to see you in my office."
Peter detached himself from Andrea and followed her in. The woman shut the door behind her.
"Peter, I know this is your first suicide prevented, but you cannot just leave work. There will be more in the future and you cannot get attached to every single one of them because some of them may have another, successful, attempt."
"What's her last name?"
"Penner."
"Alright."
"Do not go see her in the hospital, Peter. They've already left to go take her there. Go back to your patrol, you did good."
Khan strolled along the Wharf. He needed to clear his head from Marcus's new request. He wanted him off planet for a few weeks to supervise the start of construction on the new ship. Not at the shipyard, but at a hangar that Marcus had already had constructed months prior. Obviously Marcus didn't want the rest of Starfleet to know about the ship but it was still within Federation space meaning the Klingons wouldn't know about it.
How long was Marcus planning on keeping him as a pet? What was his grand plan? Keep stringing him along with the promise of eventually turning his crew over? His friends. His family. He had the suspicion that he was going to be used as a hunting dog. Either that or continue building weapons of mass destruction. Perhaps a mixture of the two. Build the weapons and then help Marcus use them. Use his warrior mind to predict scenarios and outcomes, see the weaknesses that their inferior little minds could not pick up on in foresight. Be able to carry out missions that they felt they could not do since he was better. As soon as the war was over, there were three scenarios. Either he would be beheaded like the Augments before him along with the rest of his crew, be thrown back into cryostasis until the next time Marcus wanted something, or he would remain in servitude.
He needed to get his crew out. But how? He had been drugged out of consciousness coming and going to see his crew. There was no noise inside the soundproofed warehouse. There were no windows. No clocks. No watches. Nothing that could indicate what time or day it was. All he remembered was it being twelve fifteen when he was knocked out and roughly nine thirty when Marla got him back into the apartment. Nine hours unaccounted for. He had no idea how long he they were 'experimenting'. He phased in and out of consciousness once before they shot him up with another dose. He hadn't been able to take anything into account besides them talking about figuring out how much abuse his body could take.
He needed to locate them. Then he could work on getting them off planet.
Khan's eyes scanned the road ahead and he stopped. In the distance, he could see them. Fred Kraft and Marla. That was right, he had asked her out, didn't he? His stomach churned violently as he watched the brawny man take off his coat, place it around Marla's shoulders, lean down and kiss her. Khan turned on his heel and walked away. He flipped his collar up around his neck, shoved his hands in his pockets and headed back towards his apartment a few miles away.
"Fred…" Marla pulled away. "Um…moving a little fast there."
"Oh. Sorry." Fred turned red, embarrassed.
"I just want to take things slow. And yes, I know we've slept together, but I really don't want to rush into a relationship or anything right now. Okay?"
"So, I'm not allowed to kiss you?" Fred asked, slightly confused about boundaries.
Marla made an agitated noise and turned away for a moment, thinking.
"Look, Fred. It's been a really nice night and thank you. But I don't think I'm ready for anything right now. The night I died, I broke my engagement with my fiancé and I'm still trying to deal with that since I haven't exactly had much time to think about it being practically dead for two hundred and forty odd years. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to lead you on like this, I'm so sorry." She removed his coat and handed it back to him as she walked away, not wanting to look back at the confused and heart broken man behind her.
Marla quickly jumped on the trolley as it stopped. She took out a fiver and shoved it in the fare slot as it jolted. She got off next stop, intending to take the train home. She looked up and saw a familiar figure walking ahead.
"John?" She called. The man stopped and turned, looking mildly surprised as she caught up with him.
"How the hell do you people keep finding me outside of work?"
"What?"
"Aren't you supposed to be on a date?"
Marla glanced at the ground.
"It wasn't going to work out." She muttered as she crossed her arms and shivered in the early spring night. Khan felt oddly satisfied. What the hell was going on with him?
"You have a coat on, why are you cold?"
"Because I didn't know we were going to the Wharf tonight or else I would have worn my heavier coat."
Khan snorted and rolled his eyes. He took off his scarf and wrapped it around her neck with a resigned sigh, despite her protests.
"Come on then, lets go get that tea, hm?"
"Alright." She muttered again as he hailed a cab.
They sat in silence as the cabbie drove up the hills of San Francisco.
"Decided you were not ready then?" Khan finally broke the silence.
"Yes." Marla sighed.
"Things do take time to heal."
"Says the man whose face looked like mincemeat healed almost overnight." Marla grumbled.
"I told you-"
"They weren't that deep." She rolled her eyes. "I know."
They arrived at a small coffee shop. Khan shoved a bill at the driver before getting out. Marla climbed out the other side and walked around back of the cab.
The little café was warm and Marla was relieved to feel it against her legs instead of the cold Bay air. She dug in her pocket for her wallet.
"John, how much do I owe you for cab fare?" Marla asked while trying to see if she had smaller notes.
"You don't. Two teas for here." He paid the barista and tucked the change in the tip jar.
"John-"
"Don't argue with me, Marla." He passed her the first cup. "Tea bags are over there." He gestured to a line of tins. She scowled at him as she fixed her tea. He picked a small table next to the lit fireplace which crackled merrily.
Khan nearly dropped his cup and choked on his tea when Marla took her coat off.
"You alright?" Marla asked.
Khan nodded as he cleared his lungs and took another long drink of tea. Fuck, she looked amazing. He noted she opted to keep the scarf on.
She stared at the fire while sipping her tea, the warmth from both chasing out the chill.
"Tell me about him."
"Who?"
"Your former fiancé."
"Why?"
"Clearly something is holding you back from moving on from him."
"Yeah, we were engaged?"
Khan leaned forward, blue eyes piercing into what seemed to be her very soul.
"Start talking."
"There's not much to tell. We met at the University in one of our classes. Went out a few times, started dating. He asked me to marry him a few years later and I said yes. We moved in together and I found him sleeping with one of my former co-workers who I thought was one of my best friends. I moved out, went back to get my things, got into a massive argument where I threw the ring at him and told him the wedding was off and I never wanted to see him again."
"Tell me about her."
"Kayla? We met while I was working about the same time I met Lee. One of my coworkers. It was a night job so we both understood the craziness of the schedules."
"Night job?"
"I don't want to talk about it. It paid the bills, that's all I'm saying." Marla took a drink. "I got a better job with the military that actually paid for my school, we stayed friends. She used to hang around the house a lot which makes much more sense now in hindsight. I don't know why you're interested."
Marla absently played with her spoon in the oversized white cup.
"John, tell me about you, since you know so much about me."
Khan's mind scrambled as he took a drink, attempting to buy time.
"There is not much to tell. I was born in India. My parents were doctors from London. We moved a lot. I grew up with many brothers and sisters, many of whom went their own way and I haven't heard from them since."
Half truths. He was raised in the Augment labs, being moved constantly and raised by doctors. He was born the laboratory in Bombay, India, earning his name, then they took him up to London where he stayed for the most part and was bounced from London back to Bombay and Tel Aviv. He lost track of how many other children there were. He knew every one of their faces, but couldn't keep track of them. Many died. Many survived. Many were killed during the War either by the resistance or each other. Now there were seventy-three of them left. Everyone else was beheaded and burned to prevent their bodies from regenerating themselves.
"Do you miss them?"
"Yes."
"What were your parents like?"
"They kept their distance from us. Didn't want to show favoritism so they treated us all the same and kept us all at arms length."
"Wow. How many siblings?"
Khan searched for a reasonable number. He had only really been close to about ten other Augments growing up total.
"Ten."
"Ten?! I thought three brothers was bad." Marla shook her head.
"Not as bad as you would think." Khan gave a hint of a smile.
"Tell me about them." Marla leaned forward. That he could be honest about.
"I was always closest to my brother Joaquin. We were closest in age. He was born in Tel Aviv. Our parents hated how much havoc we caused growing up. Absolutely despised it."
Marla watched as John's face practically lit up with excitement as he regaled her with tales of what stunts he and his brother Joaquin pulled to the exasperation of his siblings and parents and parent's colleagues when those incidents happened at their lab. She found herself smiling and laughing.
"Tell me about your brothers." John leaned forward.
"Well, Andrew was the oldest so he kept a handle on things for the most part for our Mom. He was such a momma's boy and such a little tattletale! Anything we did wrong, he was at Mom's side. Eventually Mom got tired of it and told him to go deal with us himself. David and I got into far more trouble than Scott and Andrew. I think the worst and stupidest thing David and I did was with a group of our friends when we set a metal trashcan full of fireworks off one Fourth of July. Jillian, David's girlfriend at the time, managed to get all the fuses together and got an extra length of fuse from the fireworks warehouse down the street. We lit it and ran like hell. Left a decent sized hole in the ground."
"Are you joking?"
"No. Tom had to go get stitches because a piece of shrapnel from the trashcan exploding caught him in the ass as we were running. We were young and stupid and bored teenagers. We probably could have caused a massive fire. Scott was the good kid. He mainly stayed out of trouble for the most part. The worst he did was he flushed a cherrybomb down the toilet at school."
Khan chuckled and Marla was slightly taken aback by the unfamiliar noise coming from him.
"Hey, not to interrupt or anything, but we're closing in about ten minutes. Here, I'll take those if you're done." The barista took away the cups.
"Well, we should better go then." Marla stood and put her coat on. "Thanks for treating me to tea, John. My turn to pay cab fare back, though."
Admiral Marcus sat in the overstuffed armchair by the fire. For California, the nights could certainly get cold. Especially in San Francisco. He tossed a stress ball back and forth while staring into the flames. Marilee sat, reading a book in the chair next to him, feet up on an ottoman. The radio sitting on the side accent table between them was turned on to a station of classics.
He pondered on the thought of Khan. He was going to be on a hangar with him on Wednesday, out in space. For weeks. On the plus side, he hadn't had to replace any furniture in the past few weeks. The only disturbance he had heard from the Augment was when he threw Commander Adam Lakewood down the hallway. He suspected he had also beat the man, but upon looking over him again, it was clear Lakewood had been beaten up by a normal human. The physical damage would have been much greater if Khan was the perpetrator. But Lakewood had a reputation of fucking everything with a vagina. It was probably someone's boyfriend or male relative he managed to piss off.
What had changed in the past month? Khan did have someone in that empty office next to him. McGibbons? Maybe it was just him being courteous by not causing a commotion. Maybe he was just calming down and settling in and was accepting the fact he was going to be there awhile. Marcus hoped and prayed for the latter. Cooperation would be so much easier than the man, if he could even call him that, fighting him every single step of the way.
He might have to stop by Khan's office to see for himself.
Marla lay in the bathtub surrounded by foamy bubbles. Certainly the best way to end the night. Her clothes hung on the back of the bathroom door. John's scarf and her coat were on the couch. She had tried to give it back in the cab, but he waved her off and told her to give it back on Monday so he would remember to give back her antiseptic.
A slight smell had caught her attention as she had entered her apartment and she noted it was the scarf. It smelled very lightly of a spicy, woody aftershave. She gave a tiny smile before taking it off and releasing Napoleon. The tribble had placed itself on the wall next to her. She was amazed that the fuzzy thing could hold on to a wall like that.
Marla exhaled and sank deeper in the tub. She knew very well if she hadn't left Fred standing there he would probably be in her bed right now. It was for the best that she broke it off right then. It was stupid to have led him on like that in the first place when she knew in the back of her mind she wasn't ready for anything beyond what she and Fred had been doing.
She was absolutely confused as to why John had had such a turnaround lately in his attitude. Maybe Amanda and Andrew were right. Maybe he was a good guy that just had some temper and people issues.
Her phone rang beside the tub.
"Hello?"
"Marla it's Amanda Sayes. I need to do some shopping tomorrow, will you assist me? Johnny's busy packing."
"Packing?"
"He has to go off planet this week for awhile."
"What kind of shopping?"
"Well usually Johnny helps with groceries, but I need help with getting some other things."
"Alright, as long as it's not illegal."
"No, no. You silly girl, it is nothing like that. Tyrone is going to propose to Marie and we're taking him engagement ring shopping."
"Oh! Alright."
"Also, Andrea is in the hospital. I was leaving when they brought her in a few hours ago."
"WHAT?"
"Suicide attempt."
"Are you serious?" Marla sat up, sloshing water.
"Yes. She tried to jump the Golden Gate."
"Oh my god. Okay, I'm in the bath now, but I'm going across the street as soon as I can. Is anyone else there with her right now?"
"Marla, she doesn't want to see anyone."
"What?"
"She doesn't want to see us."
"Why?"
"I don't know. I think she's ashamed. It's a shame, but we need to let her come to us. Marla, are you listening to me?"
"She needs someone with her!"
"Some guy named Peter came in as I got booted from the room. She's not alone. When she's ready to talk to us, she will."
Marla sat silently.
"Marla, I'm serious, do not go over there right now. Tomorrow. Let her rest, she's had a hard night."
"Alright."
"Good. Now tell me about your tea date with Johnny."
"IT WAS NOT A DATE!" Marla snarled.
"Funny that's exactly how he said it too."
"I did have a date tonight and it was with Fred."
"Fred Kraft?"
"Yeah. we've been um…"
"Sleeping together. It's no big secret Marla. Everyone knew you two were sleeping together and we were waiting for you two to admit it."
"Well, I stopped it. He asked me out and I said alright. Then I realized I wasn't ready. Ta-da. We're not sleeping together anymore."
"Good. Now you can go on another tea date with Johnny before he leaves."
"I AM NOT DATING COMMANDER JOHN HARRISON!"
Khan sat fuming on his couch, going over his conversation with Amanda moments prior. He had made the mistake of letting the old woman know he was out with Marla.
"I AM NOT DATING MARLA MCGIVERS, AMANDA." Khan had snarled into the phone. "IT WAS NOT A DATE."
"Newsflash Johnny, if you pay for everything, it's a date. Tell me you kissed her?"
"AMANDA, IT WAS NOT A DATE."
"Fine. It was a friend date then."
"IT WAS NOT A DATE OF ANY SHAPE OR FORM!"
"Whatever, you two are friends now. Good. Maybe that will keep you two from bitching at me about each other now that you're getting along." Amanda grumbled. "Johnny, are you free tomorrow?"
Khan sighed as he thought
"Unfortunately, no. I have to pack. I have been called off planet for a few weeks starting on Wednesday."
"Off planet?"
"Yes."
"When will you be back?"
"Last week of April or first week of May. They have not told me yet."
"Be careful, John."
Marla got home and dropped her bag on the couch. Tyrone had put a down payment on a ring, Amanda had groceries, and the old woman had talked her into buying some perfume. Marla admitted it was a thing she had forgotten about or thought about in passing, but was doubtful they even still made her favorite one. She was right about that, they didn't, but she did manage to find one similar enough to it.
She had gone to see Andrea. The girl had laid there in the bed, not looking at her until Marla noticed she was crying. Marla had kicked off her shoes, sat on the hospital bed next to her and let the teenager cry her heart out on her lap and tell her everything before she fell asleep, worn out. Marla had sat still for an hour, allowing the girl to rest.
Jay the nurse had come in. Marla gave him a stern look before he could say anything and he backed off. The last thing Andrea needed was to wake up alone. When Andrea eventually did wake up from her nap, Marla was kicked out for Andrea to see her counselor. After reassuring the girl she would be back the next day, Marla had left feeling drained.
About a half hour later, her phone rang.
"Hello?"
"Marla, it's Marie. Can I come over?"
"Yeah."
"Okay, be there soon. I'm bringing my tribble. Napoleon and Oscar can have a playdate."
Marla giggled.
"Alright. Door's unlocked, just come in. I'm going to be on the bed, not moving. Bring booze."
"Can do!"
It wasn't long before Marie was cuddled up next to her with some beer. The two lounged on the bed, a pizza box on the nightstand watching a movie on the tv.
"You hear about Andrea?" Marie asked during a commercial.
"Yes. Went to go see her."
"How was she?"
"Not in a good place."
Marie sighed and pulled her hair back, pink scars showing against her tan neck.
"Is that your scarf?" Marie asked, pointing to the two tribbles nestled on top of the dark red scarf on the nightstand.
"Erm…no. I borrowed it."
"Whose is it then? Here, let me move these two so they don't get tribble fur all over it then." Marie rolled over and scooped up the two trilling tribbles and threw the scarf at Marla.
"John's." Marla muttered.
"Wait, that coworker that you've had problems with?"
"Yeah."
"I take it you two aren't having problems now." Marie nudged her playfully. "Tell me you at least washed these sheets."
"MARIE. I am NOT sleeping with him! I had a date with Fred last night and it didn't end well and I ran into him on my way home and he took me for tea and he lent me his scarf because I was freezing my ass off!"
"And then you two came back here and you two banged each other's brains out?"
"NO! Nothing happened!"
"If you say so."
"I swear to you, absolutely nothing happened."
"So what happened with Fred? I thought you two were together?"
"No. He's going to be a joy to deal with at group on Wednesday." Marla replied sarcastically.
"Wait, that guy was at the bar a few times, right? Dark hair?"
"Yes."
"OOH!" Marie began hitting Marla's arm. "HIT THAT. HIT THAT HARD."
"MARIE!" Marla went red.
"If I was single, I wouldn't even hesitate. That man is FINE." Marie took a swig of beer, ignoring that the movie had come back on.
"He's arrogant and rude."
"Fuck and chuck then. And if he took you to tea after a shit date and gave you his scarf, I don't exactly call that rude. I think he likes you."
"Just trust me on this one, Marie."
"Whatever."
The next morning, Khan got to the office before Marla. He gathered his papers in case the janitors decided to clean while he was gone and locked everything in the desk. He wanted to make sure absolutely everything was spotless. He wouldn't be in the following day since they were leaving before sunrise on Wednesday morning. His lab would take more time to clean up than the office.
As he headed for the lab, the thought crossed his mind, with him gone, Lakewood would be back in the office harassing Marla regularly. Nothing he could do about that. Andrew should be home soon. He noticed Maloney posting notes on people's doors.
"Harrison." He nodded and held out the memo.
Khan took it and looked it over. Mandatory sexual harassment in the work place seminar that day in two hours. He groaned.
"I know, we all have to do it because Lakewood and Kirk can't keep it in their pants. Lakewood's going off planet soon with the Bradbury so hopefully that will help." Maloney grimaced. "It should be over quick though. Just a reminder to not inappropriately touch our coworkers."
Two hours later, Khan sat with a disgruntled Marla next to him in a large auditorium who was flipping through a stack of essays. He had encountered her locking her office on her way out and decided to walk with her.
"By the way, your scarf is in my office." She mentioned without looking up. He had noticed she had started wearing perfume. He could faintly smell it on her. "Why the hell are we having this?"
"As a victim of Lakewood's unwelcome advances, I would think you would be relieved this is being addressed." Khan muttered to her.
"This is a waste of time." She huffed. She glanced around the room, trying to find other people she knew. There was a group from the history department a few sections over, most likely from the meeting they had that morning with others scattered around. She noticed Fred a few rows over glaring at her. Great. She sank back in her seat, trying to be less noticeable.
"Alright. Let's get this over with." A very agitated Admiral Pike stood a podium at the center of the room. "We have someone here to talk because its required, because if I had my way, I would sit here and tell you to keep your goddamn hands and genitalia to yourselves and be done. I don't give a crap what you lot do in your personal time, but since I keep getting reports of a few of you having sex in the office, space stations and on the bridges of the ships like a bunch of horny teenagers while in uniform while you are supposed to be representing the Federation and doing your damn jobs, we've had no choice."
A swarm of muttering ran through the auditorium.
"Shut up! The faster this gets done, the faster everyone gets back to work. We've got signals of this going out to the space stations and ships. This is Delorian James. Lets get this done people." With that Admiral Pike sat down next to Admiral Marcus who looked equally displeased.
"Delorian? Isn't that a car?" Marla snorted.
"So we're here to talk about acceptable and unacceptable contact in the workplace. But first, what is sexual harassment? It is defined as sexual propositions, degrading comments, showing your coworkers porn, touching, vulgar language and asking inappropriate questions and jokes."
Marla rolled her eyes and resumed reading an essay.
Khan glanced over and read a few of the comments she wrote on the paper. Mostly wanting most details. The lights cut out.
"Now a visual presentation."
Khan could see Marla fighting to not swear as she put away the papers.
A giant hologram formed around the speaker.
"Inappropriate contact includes hugging, touching any body parts without permission…"
Marla watched as those phrases started circling around the hologram. John put his hand down from his face and brushed his hand against hers on her armrest accidentally. She felt a slight jolt of surprise from the unexpected and sudden contact.
"Sorry." He muttered.
"Questions?"
"I work with cadavers, none of this applies to me, can I leave?"
"Sit your ass down, Hartnell."
"Inappropriate language is next on our list." Delorian James shot a glare back at Admiral Marcus.
Khan glanced back over at a very bored Marla. He noticed her dress had ridden up and he could see even more scarring on her upper thigh. He diverted his eyes quickly.
Marla took a quick scan again to see if anyone was actually still awake. She found a number of people had fallen asleep or were also semi glancing around or whispering in each others ears, no doubt gossiping about who was caught having sex at work. Fred was still glowering at her.
"What the hell?" Khan muttered.
Marla's eyes snapped back to the screen to find a good number of obscene phrases and excerpts from what appeared to be extremely bad erotica were floating around on the hologram and Delorian had stopped speaking.
"No, no, no. This isn't right! Give me one second!"
"Clearly Delorian's presentation is being hacked." Marla remarked.
"I don't think it's being hacked." Khan looked confused from beside her.
A bunch of fidgeting on a pad and people murmuring at the sudden turn of events had woken the sleepers up.
Loud moans and groans began echoing through the auditorium speakers.
"Oh, this is just juvenile." Marla wrinkled her nose.
"NO! NO! NO!"
Suddenly graphic interspecies porn appeared on the screen and Delorian quickly shut the entire system down, face beet red.
"That…um…was not supposed to happen." He muttered before passing out.
"So I think we've all learned a good deal about sexual harassment today. Keep your hands to yourselves, if you're going to get freaky with each other, keep it off duty and whomever I find violating what rules I just said WILL face court martial. DISMISSED." Admiral Marcus thundered.
"Well there went forty-five minutes of my life I'll never get back and images I never needed to ever see." Marla grumbled before she stumbled over an uneven bit of floor. Khan quickly caught her before she fell down the steps. "Thanks."
"Don't mention it, I might get a court martial." They both fought to keep straight faces before Marla felt something snag on her hair. She yelped and turned.
"Oh, sorry McGivers, did I catch your hair? Be more careful next time. Commander Harrison." Marla looked at the blonde woman she recognized from downstairs as she smirked and gave John a quick look over.
Marla followed John back to the office, still rubbing her scalp. She knew her hair was messed up. Now she had to redo it before class.
They both unlocked their offices and entered. Khan took the bottle of antiseptic out of his bag and walked over to Marla's office and entered. Marla stood in front of a small decorative mirror on the shelf, attempting to get her hair back to normal without taking it out.
He cleared his throat. Marla turned to see him holding up the bottle.
"Oh thanks. Scarf is hanging on the doorknob." Marla took the bottle and her hair half fell out of the hair tie. "Dammit!" She groaned.
"I do not understand women and their elaborate hairstyles." Khan snorted.
"It's a simple thing, there's nothing elaborate about a bun. It's getting it to stay put that's the problem." She snapped as she gathered her hair back up. "Dr. Harlow ripped out a few of my hair pins it seems." Marla attempted to rearrange the hair pins.
Khan made a frustrated noise before stepping behind her.
"Here." He started pulling out the pins and her hair tie, much to her shock. "Look. Soft, natural. Simple." He ran his fingers through her still damp hair to separate it. Her hair formed very loose curls. The smell drifted up. Yes. Perfection. "Nothing complicated." He dropped his hands and backed away before he gave in to the urge to bury his face in her hair and inhale.
"I suppose, but impractical at work." She held out her hand for her hair tie and pins. She simply pulled it back with the hair tie. "Now, if you will excuse me, I need to go grade some essays." She motioned him out. Khan nodded and took his scarf off the handle before closing the door gently behind him.
Marla nearly collapsed in the chair, her heart seemed as if it was going a thousand miles an hour. She had not expected that. She refused to admit she had liked it.
No, she was NOT going to become attracted to Commander John Harrison. Her period was starting soon and that's what it was, general horniness and urge to jump the bones of any attractive male she came across. That had to be it since she had felt the same vague urge when Maloney had walked in to give her the memo. If that was the case, then she reckoned she was in for one hell of a week. She hadn't had a period in two centuries and apparently this one was going to make up for it. She could feel it and she wanted to cry.
That was it, she was going to the hospital to get on some birth control again to keep everything in check like she had while she was alive before. She knew she was susceptible to mood swings, severe cramps, headaches, and everything. Why didn't she go do this before? She groaned in frustration with herself for having forgotten the hell her body was about to rage. The only question was when exactly it would hit.
Her thoughts were interrupted by a gentle knock on the door.
"It's open."
The door swung open to reveal Admiral Marcus.
"Admiral Marcus." Marla immediately got to her feet. "I-I wasn't expecting you, sir."
"It's quite alright. My, what a lovely gardenia." Admiral Marcus gave a gentle smile that didn't quite reach his eyes and approached her desk, hands clasped behind his back. He leaned forward to inspect.
"A gift from a friend." Marla eyed the Admiral. What on earth would bring Admiral Marcus to her office. She was feeling very uneasy.
"I heard that there has been quite a deal of commotion down here the past few weeks, so I merely came to check up on our new addition to the history department and how she is handling the chaos that is Starfleet." Marcus returned upright and looked around the office.
"I think I am handling it quite well, sir."
Khan looked up from his book when he heard the knock. He stood when he heard Marcus's voice.
"Well, that's good to hear, Lieutenant."
"With all due respect, sir, I was a lieutenant in the United States Army. I have not earned that rank in Starfleet."
"My apologies then for my mistake." Marcus raised his eyebrows at her before clearing his throat. "Commander, how nice of you to join us." Marcus turned around to see Khan standing outside the door. Less than two minutes.
Khan narrowed his eyes at the Admiral.
"May I help you, Admiral?"
"No, I am here to talk to McGivers, but I am also questioning about the unfortunate and vulgar incident we had earlier. Since Commander Lakewood is on this floor, I thought we may have some leads here."
"I know absolutely nothing, sir." Marla responded while shaking her head.
"Nor do I." Khan stated coldly.
"Well then, I should move on. McGivers. Commander, I will see you upon our departure on Wednesday bright and early, son." Marcus left the office, Khan moving to let him through as Marcus clapped him on the shoulder.
Admiral Alexander Marcus could see what exactly was going on judging by the guard dog reaction from Khan. Now the question was, did he move the girl to a different office or keep her there. If he moved her, there was a chance Khan would go back to being destructive and uncooperative. If he kept her there, he possibly faced a very messy and complicated situation in the long run. Or he could just take Khan out of the office completely and restrict him to the lab. He would decide in the weeks off planet.
Khan watched Admiral Marcus's back retreat down the hall before the door closed. What the hell did he want with McGivers?
"What did he want?" Khan questioned, still staring at the door.
"Just wanted to check on how I was doing. Seems a bit odd. Usually it's Pike in here checking and making sure everything is going smoothly."
"Yes, it does." Khan did not trust that man. He was down there for a reason and it certainly was not to check and make sure the new worker was fine. He turned and went back into his office. Maybe it was just Marcus seeing if she suspected anything. That was probably it.
"John?" He heard Marla's voice behind him. He turned to see her in the doorway. "Is everything alright?"
"Yes. It's fine." He walked to his desk and sat down. He was startled when Marla swung herself up to sit on the edge on his desk next to him, legs crossed. "What are you doing?" He raised an eyebrow at her.
"Since you're usually the one bothering me from my desk, I figured I'd give it a go. This is quite a lovely perch up here." She teased. Khan looked up at her with amusement.
"I am going off planet for a few weeks, so your desk is safe."
"A few weeks?" Her hair tie began to slide out of her hair. As soon as it hit the desk, Khan grabbed it, quick as lightning.
"Just until the end of April." He smirked as he played with the band of elastic.
Marla watched him before quickly grabbing for her hair tie. Khan moved his hands away, smirk becoming more pronounced. He snapped the band against her leg.
"Ow! Hey!"
"You have a class to teach soon." Khan pocketed the hair tie in his pants before leaning back and sneering at her.
"And you, are an ass." She glanced over his desk and eyed a pen she leaned over and picked it up. Khan watched her, curious. She fiddled with it in her hands. "What are you doing tonight?"
"Packing. Why?"
"Amanda is making dinner at her place for Tyrone and she told me to tell you you're welcome to stop by since apparently you can't cook and hung up last night before she could tell you." She smirked.
"Perhaps."
Marla rolled her eyes at him before sliding off the desk, pen still in hand. She quickly swept her hair up with the pen and twisted it in to stay put before walking out the door.
Khan reached for his scarf, noticing Tribble fur on it. A smell caught his senses. He brought the scarf up to his nose and smelled it. It smelled like her hair and perfume.
Andrew stared at Kirk and Spock who stared back.
"So…that was an interesting transmission."
"Fascinating." Spock cleared his throat.
"Yeah…let's get back to work then." Kirk clapped his hands together. "How are the repairs coming?"
"Good. I'm surprised you managed to keep away for the day, Captain."
"The captain was a bit…tied up." Spock spoke.
"Well, I estimate she should be finished before week's end. Then we can test her out on a run around Earth and back to make sure everything is in order. After that, The Enterprise should be in commission once more."
Kirk's face lit up.
"Really?"
"Yes, really." Andrew confirmed.
"Thank you, Commander." Kirk held out his hand for Andrew to shake.
"Yes. Well, I'm on the next shuttle off. So, if you need anything, you can talk to the supervisors. They will then do the test run with you and your Chief of Engineering and bridge crew. Good luck, Captain Kirk."