Dr. Leonard McCoy, known as Bones to most of the crew, was tiding up at the end of a particularly long day when a knock came at the MedBay door. The doctor groaned and rubbed is face with one hand. He was not in the mood for this, whatever it was.

"Come in," he said, the annoyance prevalent in his voice as he reached for the flask he kept in the desk drawer. He was somewhat relieved when Dr. Cole walked through the door.

"Hey, Bones. I've got something to ask you," she sad as she approached his desk.

"Sure, hold on a sec," he replied before taking a drink from his flask, fully prepared to play the role of relationship councilor. "Ok. Go on."

Wendy raised an eyebrow, but continued. "Have you figured out how to reverse Leo's sterilization?"

"Wendy, you know as well as I do that anything we do–surgery, hormones, whatever–is pointless. Leo will be put back into cryosleep indefinitely before we even have a chance to see if it works."

"But you do know a way."

"Did you listen to a thing I just said, Wendy?! Why get Leo's hopes up about having a family when she'll never be able to actually have one?!"

"What if she did have a chance to have a family?"

"She won't have that chance."

"But what if she did?"

Bones groaned in exasperation.

"Don't give me that look," Wendy chided.

"What look?" Bones asked.

"Like Kirk just told you some ridiculous scheme."

"I'm pretty sure my face has looked like this for the past few years."

"Please, Leonard," she begged.

Bones sighed in defeat. "Alright, bring her here."

Wendy waited until after dinner to check on Leo. When she entered the brig, both Augments were seated quietly in their cells. Khan stared into space, as still as a statue but Wendy could tell by his eyes that he was thinking. Leo, however, was picking at a tiny piece of paper, trying to keep herself occupied.

"How long have they been like that?" Wendy asked the red shirt on duty.

"A couple of hours," he shrugged in reply.

"I have orders from the captain to take Ms. Aristov to the med bay."

"Yeah, sure. Whatever." Wendy sighed and shook her head at his disinterest.

"How are you feeling, Leo?" she asked as she walked up to the cell. Khan's intense gazed bored through the doctor, making her uncomfortable.

"Bored," was the woman's reply. Wendy chuckled slightly.

"Well it's about to get more interesting." Leo stood up while Wendy opened the door.

"Where are you taking her?" Khan demanded.

"I already said. We're going to the med bay. We need to talk to Dr. McCoy."

Leo followed Dr. Cole down the corridors to the med bay, wondering why no one paid them any special attention as they passed. Wendy led her down the corridors of the Enterprise until they reached the medbay.

"Does Kirk know?" she asked as Wendy opened the door.

"Not yet," the doctor admitted. "But he will soon."

Leo was about to ask what she meant, but her question answered itself when the door fully opened. Dr. Leonard McCoy stood near the center of the room in his white medical uniform, arguing with a very annoyed Kirk. They stopped talking and looked over once they noticed the women.

"No," Kirk said as his eyes fell on the female Augment. "No. Absolutely not. What is she even doing here?"

"I think I'm coming down with something," Leo replied sarcastically.

"Don't make it worse," Wendy murmured to her friend.

"But he makes such a cute face when he's pissed," Leo teased, making Wendy blush. Bones rolled his eyes when Leo winked at Kirk's confused expression.

"Are you Bipolar or something?" the captain blurted.

"It's highly possible," Leo shrugged. "But mostly I'm just bored."

Kirk shook his head in a mixture of exasperation and confusion. "I can't give my permission for this."

"Is it so wrong to want a child?" Leo asked, all traces of humor gone.

"Some people shouldn't be allowed to have children," Kirk replied.

There was a loud smack as the palm of Leo's hand collided with the side of Kirks face. The captain gingerly put his hand to his cheek as an angry red mark started to appear. His whole face smarted with the force the blow. He wouldn't be surprised if he had a nasty bruise tomorrow, but on the other hand, he had a feeling that his neck would have broken if Leo had used her full strength.

"I did what was necessary, Kirk," Leo spat out his name like it was a bitter taste in her mouth.

"Necessary?" he countered.

"My people were created, not born, captain. Created by scientists under microscopes and grown in petri dishes until the embryo was big enough to be implanted into a surrogate. We were supposed to be the perfect soldiers. Perfect and expendable. But we were too perfect and our creators became afraid of us."

"Ms Aristov–" Bones tried to interject.

"A man decided once before that I didn't deserve to have a child because I had turned away from violence. And now, three centuries later, a man has decided the same thing for the opposite reason. Because I was forced to turn back to violence."

"Forced?" Kirk's angry question caused Leo's face to soften. When she spoke again, it was with a distant sadness.

"When I first met Khan, I was fighting against our creators, in my own way. I spoke out against them and against eugenics. But Khan . . . Khan made me want to give all of that up. I never even considered children until I met him. I had devoted my whole life to bringing down the men who had done this to me – to all of us. But then Khan came along and I . . . I didn't want that anymore. I just wanted to be with him. To move to a house somewhere and at least try to live a normal life. London was supposed to be the end. One last rally before we disappeared. But then . . ."

"Someone tried to assassinate you," Wendy finished.

Leo stared at her in shock.

"There's a video," she clarified, "It's one of the few surviving records from that time period.

Leo nodded, still shaking slightly from the outburst of emotion. Kirk stared at her. He knew the story already– Wendy had told him weeks ago– but he was taken aback by her feeling and complete honesty.

"But how can you–" he started. "Do you really feel that way about Khan?"

"You never saw the side of him that I did," Leo replied.

"Obviously," Bones mumbled. Wendy smacked him on the bicep, earning a silent 'ow' from the chief medical officer.

Kirk stared at Leo for a while. The blonde woman was giving him one of the best pairs of puppy eyes he'd ever seen. He had no doubt that she was putting it on for his sake, but damn was she good at it. It didn't help that Wendy was standing right next to her, making the same face. They were starting to look like sisters. Kirk sighed heavily

"Alright, but no guarantees that they'll be able to . . . ahem . . . try it out."

Wendy beamed and threw her arms around Kirk's neck. "Thank you, Jim! I knew you'd come around!"

"Yeah, yeah," the captain groaned, peeling her off of him. "Why don't you go tell Khan what's happening? I have a feeling that he won't believe it coming from me."

Wendy nodded, then turned to Dr. McCoy, "Don't start without me."

"You're not even a medical doctor," Bones replied, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, but someone should be here for Leo."

Kirk looked over at the blonde Augment, who had been silent since he gave his decision. She seemed . . . relieved, mostly, but there was also a look of disbelief on her face. He had a brief, nagging doubt in the back of his mind, but he shoved it aside. He hadn't exactly given her the benefit of the doubt in the past several weeks and he figured she deserved that much. Wendy gave Leo a gentle squeeze on the shoulder before heading off to talk to Khan. Kirk and Bones shared a look before the captain nodded and left as well.

I'm so sorry it's taken me so long to update. I've been busy adulting, plus attending a conservatory this summer. Anyway, many thanks to TheWooze19 for being my cowriter.

I hoped you guys enjoyed this chapter, 'cause it's the beginning of the end. So strap yourselves in, grab some tissues, and get ready for a wild ride!

Don't forget to drop a review!