A/N: Thanks for the reviews, folks! They encourage me to keep writing!

It was insanity, pure insanity to even think of going anywhere with this man, yet Molly found herself on her feet and calling for Jamie without a moment's hesitation. When her son ran over and threw himself into her arms, grinning broadly, she heard Khan's inward hiss of breath and had a bare second to wonder if she was making the worst mistake of her life before the three of them were caught up in a transporter beam and carried away into the unknown.

They materialized in what Molly's trained eye instantly identified as the hold of a small interstellar transport. Not a starship, possibly not even a Federation ship, but the details of its origins were hardly important at the moment. As long as it could take them far away from Earth, to some world where she and her son wouldn't be forced apart 'for his own good', that was all she needed to know. Jamie was making curious sounds and squirming in her arms, his signal for 'put me down Mummy' that she steadfastly ignored as she continued to assess their current location. "Where are we going?" she asked Khan, not yet meeting his eyes.

She noted the seventy-three cryotubes – one conspicuously opened – and the medical equipment surrounding them before finally turning to study their rescuer. Or kidnapper, depending on how things turned out.

"Elsewhere," was all Khan answered her, clearly waiting until she met his eyes before speaking. He'd removed the dark glasses and was offering them to Jamie, who seemed entranced not only by the mirrored lenses but by the man giving them to him.

"That's not a very useful answer," Molly said as she nodded her permission to Jamie, who had turned to his mother even as he reached out for the shiny present. He clutched it in his hands and giggled as he tried to place the oversized lenses on his face. Molly allowed herself an indulgent smile as the glasses slipped off his nose, but it faded as she once again met Khan's gaze.

"It's safest for you if you don't know our destination until we're out of Federation space," he replied, but his eyes kept sliding over to Jamie. Molly tensed as he reached out to touch her son's – their son's – face, stroking his fingertips along the boy's cheeks and tickling him under the chin. She relaxed slightly as Jamie giggled and batted Khan's hands away, then tensed again as her son asked, "Who you?"

"My name is Khan," his father replied. "I've come to take you and your Mum somewhere safe. I hope you don't mind."

Jamie appeared to be considering his father's words before giving a bit of a nod and warbling out a happy, "OK!" Then his attention was back on the mirrored lenses; he turned them this way and that as he studied his slightly distorted reflection and giggled at the sight.

Molly was glad Khan hadn't identified himself as Jamie's father; it wasn't the right time, and Molly wanted to prepare her son before revealing that particular truth. Especially since she had no idea what this prison break would mean for their future – or what exactly Khan wanted from the two of them. It was clear he felt some sort of attachment to Jamie, which was a relief, but had he brought Molly along only as his son's mother…or was there another reason?

She sternly pushed down the flutter of anticipation that arose in her midsection at the thought that Khan wanted her as well as his son; even if that wishful thinking turned out to be true, it didn't mean anything more than him wanting her in his bed. She was a normal human, after all, not an Augment; surely he wouldn't allow himself to have feelings for her? Or act on them if he did?

"I've prepared quarters for you and Jamie," Khan said, interrupting her dismayed thoughts as he led them out of the hold and into the ship proper. "Your belongings have already been beamed aboard."

"Shouldn't you be on the bridge?" Molly called after him as he strode down the corridor, his long legs eating up the distance as she hurried to keep up. She briefly considering putting Jamie down, but that would slow them even more than his familiar weight in her arms.

Khan glanced over his shoulder, then slowed his pace as he realized he'd been moving too quickly. "The ship is on autopilot; as soon as we beamed aboard it was programmed to break orbit. Our transponder is giving off a false identity and I've masked our ion trail. Once we're out of the solar system I've set a Romulan cloaking device to further hide us from pursuit. Not that I expect any for some time," he added with a hint of smugness as the three of them continued down the corridor. "As soon as the transporter took us out of New Zealand holograms of the three of us were activated. As far as your fellow prisoners and their children are concerned, we simply walked away. And your tracking device was deactivated at the same time," he added, glancing down at the clunky device encircling Molly's left ankle, just above the top of her nondescript black shoe and below the hem of her trouser leg. "We can remove that at any time."

"It sounds like you've thought of everything," Molly replied, impressed in spite of herself. "Can I ask why?"

He squinted at her in confusion. "Why? Why did I rescue you and our – you and Jamie?" he asked, correcting himself at the last second. Good; Molly approved. Jamie clearly didn't see the similarities between himself and his father, and she'd already decided that now wasn't the time for her to try and explain who the stranger was.

She nodded in response to Khan's question, and his expression turned to one of annoyance. "Do you really have to ask that, Molly? I rescued you because you were wrongly imprisoned, for a crime you didn't commit. You were never a traitor to the Federation, but Starfleet was willing to let you rot there for the rest of your life. And they would have taken Jamie from you as well," he added in a low voice, his eyes once again straying to their son as he reminded her of the most painful consequence of her imprisonment.

This time, Molly saw the pain in his eyes. "You love him," she said, just as softly. Not that Jamie couldn't hear them, of course, but he was too enamored of the mirrored lenses to pay attention to the two adults at the moment. And it was nearly his nap time; she hoped he would be able to fall asleep in a strange bunk. At least he showed no fear, not even of the transporter, which he'd never experienced before. Truly he was his father's son.

Khan nodded, once, glancing over to meet Molly's eyes. "Not just him," he added in a low voice, after only the slightest of hesitations.

With that disquieting admission, he turned away and speeded his pace yet again. "Come, I'll take you to your quarters so you can rest. I'll need your help in reviving my crew later." He paused. "Unless you want me to return you to Earth. It's not too late for that."

Molly shook her head, unable to find the breath to speak just yet. No, she'd allowed Khan to take her and she had no intention of surrendering herself back to Starfleet's tender mercies. No, she as too busy at the moment trying to wrap her mind around Khan's startling revelation. He loved her? How was that possible, how could he believe that after knowing her for only a single night?

Then again, she'd fallen in love with him that night, so why should she be so shocked that he'd apparently done the same?