It was frustrating trying to get this chapter out. My Grandparents live in a small town and have very limited technology in the house. Their computer doesn't have word and it only has this primitive version of wordpad that doesn't have spell check, so the first draft of this was full of mistakes. I continued writing this on Google docs but then we had a three day long storm and the electricity cut off. Luckily my Aunt let me use her computer so I was able to upload this, a day later than usual but at least its up. Any mistakes are mine.

Italics in the first section are when speaking in Vulcan.

Disclaimer: I don't own Star Trek (unfortunately) all rights go to Gene Roddenberry, CBS and Paramount Pictures.

Warnings: Nothing for this chapter.

Chapter 5: With Eyes They Watch

Location: Starfleet Academy

Sunday 26th September 2255

Today was surprisingly an unusually hot day and it could been seen by the amount of times Nyota had dropped the temperature in her dorm, accompanied by the amount of times that the question "are you sure that it's okay with you?" followed. To each time Skye nodded, not bothered to explain that another benefit to her wired biology was that because on Betazed in the winter, the temperatures grew so cold, she had an unusually good tolerance for low temperatures. Her mind was not on her essay, it was focused on Joe's last words to her and that haunting look he had given her. The day had dragged on slowly, much to her annoyance. Leonard, who was suppose to be completing a group project with her was still hung up over the fact that he had injected her with a dosage of medicine that she was allergic to. Nyota huffed again, positioning herself differently but the heat could still be felt.

"Why it so hot!?" she exclaimed her hands going out in a questioning manner.

"You've asked that about eight times now," Skye said laughing.

"It way too hot to be studying," she complained "I think I am going to go out for a bit to make most of the sun," Nyota said, standing up, pushing her papers and PADD to one side.

"Have fun melting into the floor," Skye waved.

"You sure you don't want to come?" asked Nyota, still showing slight concern for her roommate who she could tell had something on her mind.

"Thanks, but I'll finish this paper first," Skye said with small smile.

"I'll see you later," Nyota said hanging back a few more seconds to see if Skye would change her mind.

When Nyota was gone, Skye shied and pushed aside her own PADD, stretching her legs out. Time seemed to be going far too slowly, the itching feeling inside of her was making her unable to sit still. She glanced at the clock on the wall of their dorm and it was only 13:00. Unable to shake the feeling away, she got up and stretched, walking to the dorm door, for some needed air. Walking through the corridor she passed faces absentmindedly not knowing what direction that she was going in.

"Skye," came a voice to her left.

Skye stopped dead in her tracks and she turned to be met with Spock. She came closer to him and she smiled, genuinely glad to see him outside of classroom settings.

"Hey Spock," She greeted.

"It is good to see you have settled well into the Academy and may I commend you on the paper you turned in last week, it was exceptional. It would be interesting to research further into your theory of Surak's first teachings of logic and the impact that it had on the splinter group Puksu," Spock said thoughtfully.

"It was only a thought, he could have had nothing to do with it," Skye replied changing naturally to Vulcan.

"None the less it is an interesting thought; perhaps we shall discuss it in next weeks class. There was one thing that I wanted to discuss with you, my mother is accompanying my father on a trip to Earth and when I spoke to her she expressed a desire to see you-"

"I would love to them again!" Skye said with a wide smile.

She could see from Spock's eyes that he was very much pleased that she was so excited at the prospect of seeing her aunt and uncle again.

"Then I will contact you when my father informs me when they have arrived," Spock said with what could have been classified as a small smile if you were looking closely.

"Do you want to grab something to eat, if you're not busy?" Skye offered.

"I am not occupied, It would be gratifying to accompany you," Spock replied.

"Great, me and Jim went to this place last time we were here, they do the best vegetarian dishes," Skye said.

"Very well, I shall trust your judgement," Spock said, but Skye recognised that tone.

"Hey, it wasn't my fault that the last place we went to was...ehh… how to put it, not satisfactory," Skye said with a small shrug.

"I believe that 'not satisfactory' is not the correct term. The dishes from the Na'vek region that they served contained live Beveknihk worms, if my memory serves me correctly I do not remember any Beveknihk worms in their dish," Spock said.

"Very funny, that was one time-"

"There was that other occasion on-"

"There's that sense of humour that I missed," Skye joked.

"Vulcans do not-"

"Joke? I'll believe that when I actually see it," Skye smiled "I am still convinced that it's a conspiracy, you guys enjoy taking us all for fools."

"Your insistence to still believe this conspiracy, it-"

"Don't worry I was kidding," Skye said.

They continued to walk out of Starfleet Campus and they discussed more serious topics of the Academy and the contents of her latest assignments. Skye was glad for the distraction, it was welcomed to finally think of something besides what Joe had in store for her. As it turns out she had been correct on one front, it was one of the best dishes that Spock had ever tasted (not that he would admit that to Skye).

Skye was waiting patiently by the building that Joe had specified, a new office space that hadn't been opened yet. She had been waiting there no longer, than a few minutes when Joe showed up, same black jacket and hood drawn to cover his face. He looked left and right for a few seconds and he nodded for Skye to follow him. She was taken down a long corridor and she was almost afraid of what he would tell her. They finally reached a small room that was littered with papers and different empty food items.

"Joe how long have you been here?" asked Skye.

"Not long, I can't stay in one place for long, they'll find me otherwise," Joe replied rubbing his face, which showed clear signs of malnutrition and sleep deprivation.

"What's going on?" asked Skye looking briefly at some of the papers that Joe had which included pictures of her on various outings after meetings with her superiors.

"I don't know where to start," Joe said, his voice sounding like it was going to crack.

"Hey, you're fine," Skye said squeezing his arm in an attempt to comfort him "Start after Balon V, after the meetings and our suspension," Skye offered, giving Joe a starting point.

"Okay," he breathed in, "It wasn't until after about three months I noticed people following me, watching me all the time. My sisters lives in a small town, you know exactly who's who," Joe explained, "It wasn't until I was approached three months ago, by a man named Jackson and his colleague-"

"Ja'cklr?"

"Yeah, they approached me and they called me for an interview, they wanted to know about the natives below on the planet, they wanted to know how I came up with the formula to treat them because they lost everything on the ship, I told them I wasn't exactly sure what we did to make them better," said Joe pausing for a few seconds "then they called me again, the wanted me to come back to try and work with some sample to come up with a vaccine that wouldn't stop working - all the ones that they tried to reproduce had stopped."

Skye nodded indicating to him she was listening intently and she watched until Joe moved to get his PADD.

"It was fine at first, I was helping them to create a new vaccine but in the end, it wasn't like that, you see, they were getting angry - impatient even, that I wasn't coming up with any results, the serums that we devised were failing once injected into the specimen tissue that was from the natives who didn't make it. I am not even sure that what we were curing was a disease that was natural," He shied raking his hands through his hair. "I was convinced at this point that something was wrong, they weren't telling me anything, so I tried to leave and that's when things went wrong."

"They stopped you from leaving?"

"They said that I couldn't, said that this needed to be finished and that was when I could leave. I told them that what were trying to cure wasn't even a disease and the tissue samples were not from someone that had been infected by exposure to the raw form of the KLT99. That's when I decided to do some digging, it's clear to me that what they were developing was not a vaccine. Whatever they were transporting was not to cure but to stabilize what was already there," he added taking a pause to let Skye catch up.

"To stabilize? Stabilize what?" Skye said playing with the ring on her finger, glancing at some of the results on Joe's PADD.

"See, the samples we had were going through change, whatever we gave them actually may have stabilized this for a period of time and what they wanted me to do was to recreate this stabilizer of sorts, to stabilize whatever was happening to them, to make it a permanent change."

"I thought what happened to the natives was the toxins released from the crash making them sick,"

"No, the side effects they were feeling, the nausea, vomiting blood and so on, were a by-product if this change."

"Okay so they wanted you to reproduce whatever you used to stabilize the natives, not to recover any vaccine that may have been destroyed on the ship, wasn't Denner's ship just bringing supplies, I never understood why they were producing vaccines on board."

"That's the thing, there is no record of there ever having been any scientists making vaccines on board and Denner was supposed to be on a routine mission to deliver supplies," Joe replied.

"What did you find?" Skye said sitting forwards.

"The final straw was when I found the documents, pictures of us after Balos V. I wanted to know what I was making for these people, I could just keep going-" Joe paused and looked outside the high window and his eyes clouded over with anger but also pain.

"Have you thought that maybe the Fleet were producing something that went wrong and they just wanted to cover it?" asked Skye reaching out for Joe's arm.

"They covered it up didn't they, Denner's dead, they probably killed him to keep quiet," Joe said quietly.

"Joe, that man had enemies, more than I can count on my fingers, a man like him doesn't have many friends," Skye put forwards, trying to see an alternative solution, anything that would avoid conspiracy.

"I looked into Denner and this company that they were delivering supplies to, a year ago they practically didn't exist, and they were a small private company who were trying to come up with new vaccines. All their requests for funding from the Federation didn't go through, that is until Denner accidentally had problems with his warp core, the seismic column that ermmm..."

"Over heated and this melted into the proto collider, causing the ship to cut at warp," Skye offered.

This earned her a small smile from Joe which she was glad to see, reminding her more of the youthful, cheerful man she had known on and off for the last three or so years.

"That was the nearest base and they were given immediate help and so were able to contact Starfleet. What happened next, I don't know, but exactly a week later, they get the funding they need, the only files I got access to was what was in their log, not anything noticeable until you get into what the stuff actually is, LTLLP55, coded in their reports as TLL55P, is illegal in most places in the Federation,"

"So they are dealing with illegal substances?"

"I don't know but Denner is the only fleet Captain to have ever been there, according to the public reports," Joe stated.

"This screams illegal all over it, Starfleet are in head over their heels with it," Skye muttered.

"You were right about them, I help people, I never wanted any part in this, God only knows what I've aided them with," Joe said bitterly.

"It wasn't your fault Joe."

"They harassed my sister and her family, no one knows where I am," Joe told her "So I came to find you, but I saw you walking in their campus with their uniform, why Skye?" Joe said, tiredness from physical stress and emotional stress making his colours distorted into many sharp patterns, giving Skye a headache if she concentrated any longer on it.

"I joined because I had nothing left Joe, what was I going to do, drink myself to an oblivion?" Skye snapped slightly.

"I have nothing left now, all because this organisation thought it was so important to get one serum, that doesn't even work," Joe didn't hold back any longer and placed his head in his hands, he let tears fall, staining his cheeks.

"Joey, how long have you been running?" Skye asked.

"I left there three months ago, when I cracked the serum."

"You cracked it?" Skye asked surprised.

"Yeah, then I took it with me," he whispered.

"We'll figure this out; I can go to Pike-"

"No, no more involvement of Starfleet, I came to you because I need you to help me figure this out, so at least-" he stopped.

"Joe, listen to me, going it alone is dangerous, we'll need help, where did you put that serum?"

Joe didn't reply because there was a loud bang coming from downstairs. Skye picked herself off where she was sitting and she froze listening to the echoes of several bangs. Joe was transfixed with getting the documents from his desk into a bag. He handed them to Skye and she nodded back at him.

"There is an exit round the back, I'll call you," Joe said.

"But-"

"I'll be fine," he said harshly wiping his face.

Skye looked at him one last time, before she turned away and went into the darkness of the corridors, careful not to be seen by the people who were coming closer to where they were. When she came into the contact with the slightly still warm air, she searched with deep concentration and found Joe's familiar aura, then she took a deep breath, trying to stop her head from spinning and left back for the Academy feeling none the wiser. One thing she did know, that whatever Joe went through, it had changed him, it was only by his colours that she could tell it was him otherwise, the bumbling man she knew was long buried beneath layers of distrust.

By late evening, the heat that had gripped San Francisco had finally relented and the air had cooled dramatically, settling into the typical weather for September. Leonard was walking briskly in a district that he rather not be in; he had been called to attend to a sickly woman who as it turned out had actually mistaken the after effect of too much Ale as a heart attack. Unpredictable bipolar weather. He grimaced when he could hear more commotion coming from the more lively residence. He couldn't wait to get back to the Academy and get some sleep, he was exhausted and frankly not looking forwards to the week that was coming, he had been avoiding Skye since she had left medical. He hadn't told her how bad that her reaction had been, it had been one hell of a reaction to something that very little people were allergic to. He shook his thoughts away from that incident and he progressed through the streets passing by what looked to be one of the dodgiest bars he had ever seen and he had been in a few in his lifetime, especially in the last year. There was a spectacular amount of commotion coming from inside and it wasn't long before an angry looking man came out and he was holding some bloody and beaten man by the scruff of his cadet reds.

"If I ever catch you in here again, I swear I was personally delivered you to the Fleet in a box, in pieces!" he bellowed in an unfamiliar accent.

Leonard glanced at the cadet picking himself off the floor, wobbling a bit and falling over again. His doctor instinct took over and he headed slowly over to the man who was clearly out of his wits babbling to himself. Upon careful inspection, Leonard recognised the man immediately and he almost rolled his eyes. The kid had gotten himself into a scrap again.

"Kid," Leonard called.

Jim looked around and he squinted, his eyes widened once he recognised who was calling his name.

"BONES!" he yelled.

"Jesus, quit yelling, I can hear you!" he stated.

"I was gettin' 'nother drink," he said.

"From what I just witnessed another drink is definitely not what you're getting, come on," Leonard said getting his arm underneath James'.

"But I wasn't finished!" he exclaimed rubbing his face.

If it were under normal circumstances Leonard might have found his facial expression comical but he was far too annoyed that he had to carry this sack a drunken mess with him.

"What the hell did you do to get in such a damn mess? Look at you," Leonard said almost tripping with Jim.

"She was 'arried," Jim replied looking comically surprised.

"Jesus man," Leonard muttered "couldn't you just find a nice studious girl and sit in for an evening and watch a holo."

"Das boring!" Jim replied with a smile waving Leonard off and almost hitting his face.

"Yeah well some of us enjoy boring, keeps us out of trouble," Leonard replied looking at the kid.

"You're old," Jim said laughing.

"Not you as well," he muttered.

"Skye?" Jim asked with a broad grin.

"Yeah, your friend has given me her own nickname," Leonard rolled his eyes.

"She was 'pose to be my wing-woman, she ditched me for Joe," he said looking almost cross.

"Who the hell is Joe?" asked Leonard, making that question come out too sharply.

"Doctor friend," Jim said almost dismissively "but you're her top Doctor friend!"

"I am privileged," Leonard muttered sarcastically.

Leonard blanked out doing his best to try to keep the kid upright, himself included. He went into an avid description of how he tried and failed to conquer the women who had been married and the man who had thrown him out was the not so pleased husband. Leonard nodded in places where Jim had stopped to look at him to see he was following.

"And then he hit me!" Jim laughed.

Leonard was glad that they were almost there, making it out of the shady neighbourhood to the safe sanctuary of the Academy grounds. His bruises weren't too bad, it was his rib that he was most concerned about. When rounding the next corner Leonard spotted Skye walking fast, heading to where her dorm was located, she looked distracted and he wondered what was running through her mind to make her look so preoccupied but he let it go, watching her disappear. Jim didn't seem to notice and he was too busy looking around like it was the first time he was looking at his surroundings.

"Bones?"

"Yeah?" he replied, his attention focused on Jim.

"I think I may throw up," Jim replied face still.

"Don't thro-"

Before he could finish his sentence, Jim had emptied the contents of his stomach on the floor and all over Leonard med uniform.

"-up on me."

Jim looked exhausted and slightly woozier than he had, making Leonard wonder just how much he had consumed that night. Jim looked apologetic but didn't say anything. They hobbled in silence now that Jim's eagerness to talk had worn off and in its place had left a tired and sore Jim. Leonard had, dare he say, much preferred the upbeat annoying kid from before. When they finally entered his room, he deposited Jim on the bed. He looked at the clock and it was just reaching 21:09, it wasn't even that late but Leonard felt the hours of lost sleep catching up with him. He sat him down on the neighbouring bed and he inspected his ribs, pressing down made Jim flinch and he knew from the bruising that he had at least broken one or two of them. Leonard settled him down in bed and he pulled the covers up, letting the kids eyes droop shut. He looked down at himself and shied, he was covered in sick and he was in desperate need of a shower.

"Thanks Bones," mumbled Jim.

Leonard softened slightly, just ever so and turned to adjust the lights to 20% and turned on the sonic shower. When he remerged, he glanced at his PADD, he saw the message again for what seemed like the twentieth time that week and it made him burn inside, with shame and anger but accompanied with it was a deep sense of sadness. Jim stirred again from his sleep mumbling something under his breath and for some strange reason Leonard was sure that this wasn't the last time he was going to be picking that kid off the pavement.

The room was unsettlingly dark. It was the way that he liked it, it gave him time to think and reflect. He was sitting in his usual position, staring at Agent Jackson who was looking at his, to give him his next order. He almost smiled, it was too easy to give these Agents, who were trained to face all types of threats, a feeling of uneasiness.

"Sir?" he looked up.

"Yes I am aware of our dilemma," the Director said with a hint of irritation, he had always hated the way these agents dumbly repeated information back at him.

"What should we do Sir, she has the knowledge that we need," Jackson replied.

"Yes I am also aware of this," the Director responded now in a tone that seemed as if he were addressing a child who had asked a ridiculously stupid and unnecessary question.

"Should we attempt to extract the information?" Jackson offered.

"No, that isn't wise, look what happened with the boy," he snapped, feeling irritation arise that a simple trainee Doctor had managed to outwit him and then leave undetected from a high security building.

"Should we try to take her in?" Jackson tried again, clearly hating the guessing game that the Director was subjecting him to.

"No, Agent are you aware of who this girl is?" without giving Jackson a chance to reply he answered "her family are some of the most influential people in the Fleet, it would be unwise to draw any more attention to ourselves, look what that fool Denning got us into, too big for his boots."

"What is the best course of action? Sir," Jackson questioned, ready mind and body to receive his new orders.

"We wait for her to come to us," he simply replied.

"Isn't that risky?" Jackson replied slowly, slightly taken aback by the response he had received.

"If what I believe is true, then she will not disappoint us, there is too much of her father in her. I always like a challenge," The Director replied with a small smile, feeling almost excited at the prospect of seeing if he was right about the girl. "Oh and tell them that they will have what they need very soon."

Jackson was left feeling slightly stunned, how could he simply dismiss this as a game? He reminded himself that it was not his place to question the Director. If this is, what was best then this is what they would do.

Skye shied again, she was walking through the dimly lit corridors with one destination in mind. When she got there, she hesitated only for a fraction of a second remembering how he had reacted last time she had come to wake him up. She buzzed lightly, waited and the door opened. She was met with Leonard whose hair was still wet from his shower, dressed in shorts and T-Shirt.

"I didn't wake you did I?" Skye asked.

"No, you didn't, I was up anyway, been babysitting that friend of yours," he replied.

"Jim? What happened?" Skye asked.

"Found himself in the wrong side of town," Leonard replied.

"Bar fight? Thanks for pulling him out, where is he?" she asked.

"Passed out on the other bed," Leonard said opening the door to illuminate Jim, who was fast asleep.

"He'll be fine tomorrow," Skye said shaking her head "but I came to give you this," Skye told him, handing him a piece of paper.

"What is it?" he asked puzzled reading the list.

"It's what I am allergic to, what I know of so far."

"Good Lord woman, this list is as long as War and Peace," Leonard said scanning it quickly.

"Hopefully it makes up for the lack of info on file," Skye said shifting her weight from one foot to the other.

"Thanks," Leonard said sincerely, feeling touched that she would take out the time to scrawl out a long list just for him.

"I'll see you in class tomorrow," Skye said taking one look at Jim and seeing his colours swirl, indicating a deep, yet untroubled sleep, making Skye feel more at ease.

Leonard nodded at Skye opening her mouth to say something else but she had gone before he had the chance. He looked down at the list again and smiled shaking his head, retreating inside. Skye continued onwards and reached her room; it was the same, as she had left it, Nyota still not back yet. Sighing, she went on to finish that paper due first period, hoping that she could finish it quickly and get to bed so that she could stop the swirl of thoughts in her head.