A/N: HELLOOO I AM BACK! First off I apologize profusely for making you all wait for this chapter. I have an excuse, in that it's the holidays rn, but still I feel really bad about the wait. Also I apologize for the shortness of this chapter. I had a bit of trouble with it because I wanted to get it right, but I'm a perfectionist so I'm sure you'll all approve. Anyway, enjoy!

Chapter 9 – The Catalyst

Madelyn finally relinquished her grip on the sheets, catching her breath as John slid out of her, his orgasm ebbing in sync with hers. She shut her eyes briefly as he pressed a trail of searing kisses down her neck and back, then his arms slid underneath her and circled her tightly and she was pulled to her side against him. She shimmied around so she faced him, sliding her arms around his neck while he gently kissed her lips. When she looked at him again, his expression was relaxed but impossible to read. She wasn't sure whether he was pleased to see her face, or just still lost in the satisfaction of knowing that she'd finally let him take her from behind.

She kissed him again, then nestled her face against his neck so his chin rested in her hair. She reached up and traced the sinews of his neck and shoulder with her fingers, running them down along the ridge of his collarbone and over his muscular chest. Every single time they'd seen each other over the past month, John had had one thing on his mind, and though she wasn't about to say no to mind-blowing sex, Madelyn was beginning to wonder if that was all he had wanted from the beginning.

She rolled her lips together to moisten them and tilted her chin to look up at him. His hair half-covered his eyes so she pushed it out of the way, her fingers lingering in his smooth locks after the fact. He gazed back at her, saying nothing, even when she pushed him over onto his back so she could lie on top of him. She appreciated that he let her push him around a little. The first week they'd slept together, John had loved nothing more than pinning her down and aggressively doing what he wanted, but lately he'd come to respect her desire for equal dominance. Still, he was stronger than he looked.

Madelyn crossed her arms over his chest and rested her chin on top of her hands. He was still looking at her with the same cool expression, but a faint smile graced his lips. She knew she needed to broach the subject now, while she had him under her like this, lounging in a post-sex high.

"You know, this has been great. The sex, I mean." She tried to restrain her grin, but his hands were sliding along her sides now and she couldn't help it.

"But you're not satisfied with it," he said. His look never changed, and she realized he must have picked up on her train of thought far earlier than he'd let on.

She lowered her voice as though she was suddenly unsure she wanted to reveal her doubts. "We've been doing this for over a month now, and I was wondering if it was going anywhere." She paused, watching him, but he wore the same stoic look that had never pissed her off until now. "Let's face it, John," she added. "You know everything about me, but I don't know a thing about you, and I don't know how I let that happen." She caught the shift in his demeanor in the way that his lips barely parted and the muscles in his jaw tightened. "Tell me about your family," she offered, despite the distraction his hands were becoming to her body.

His reply was quiet and curt. "I can't yet, but I will soon enough."

Madelyn licked her lips and adjusted the angle of her body against his. She knew the effect she had on him, and he would use it to distract her. She raised herself up on her elbows so she could look down at him more fully. "Why's that?" she asked, imagining some familial split had caused him to be so reluctant to talk about them. He must have had a good reason not to have spent Christmas with them. That was what she wanted to believe anyway.

John's hands slid along her back and down over her rear but she held his gaze unflinchingly. She ran her fingers along his neck and jaw, feeling the tension in it. "Why won't you talk about them?" There was a single moment in which she regretted pushing him for information when his hands paused and she caught a brief look in his eye that quickly disappeared.

"Nothing good will come of it," he said quickly.

Madelyn rolled her bottom lip between her teeth. He was being enigmatic again and it was starting to lose its attraction. His hands slid up between her thighs and made her breathing hitch, but she narrowed her eyes at him. She was determined to get him to talk before he made her forget what she wanted to know.

"So you do have family, but you won't talk about them. You didn't spend Christmas with them, so obviously you're not on good terms—"

The flood of warm sensations between her legs halted. "I would prefer you didn't form opinions of them before having met them."

"Which brings me to the question I've been waiting to ask. When do I get to meet them?"

The tension in John's face subsided a little and his fingers resumed their explorations. "Soon," he replied.

A moan slid between Madelyn's teeth and she couldn't help but comb her fingers into his scalp again, her forehead pressed to his chest. He knew what he was doing between her legs as always, and she knew when all coherent thoughts slipped from her mind.

What she had with John had become an addiction, a physical relationship that had come to exist solely in one bedroom or another. Ever since the incident in November—when she'd been drugged by a still-unknown person, thoroughly completing Owen's job of ruining their one and only date—John had been reluctant to go out in public with her at all. Not that Madelyn was complaining. She loved being with him, loved all the things he could do to her, and maybe he preferred it to remain that way. He'd made his intentions known only by showing her how long he could last with her. Their record so far was five hours, and though he always seemed to be up for more, he respected the times she made it clear she didn't match his desire.

There was also a certain stability in knowing that they could see each other in this private studio flat without being interrupted. Maybe John recognized that; maybe he preferred that, knowing he could just lie in bed with her if he wanted, or pin her against the wall if she let him. One evening, she was on the back deck gazing out at the city when he arrived, and he ended up slowly fucking her against the railing with her clothes still on. It was the first time Madelyn had ever engaged in what she considered to be a voyeuristic act, but she wouldn't have done it with anyone else because she trusted him.

John knew when she'd had enough, when she hardly had to speak a word but just lean her forehead against him and shut her eyes. She didn't know how many times she'd fallen asleep against him like that. Often she would wake up to find herself in the cold bed alone, but there were rare days when he would still be there, almost always watching her when she woke. And then he would leave soon after, hardly speaking a word, carrying with him an ever-present urgency to return to work. And it was his work that still gave her pause.

Given the questionable connection between her late grandfather and Admiral Marcus and the money that filled in the gaps, not to mention the mystery surrounding the person responsible for drugging her in November and John's insistence that it was somehow connected to her grandfather's murder, Madelyn understood his desire for a certain amount of secrecy. There was also the ever-present threat that Owen presented should he suddenly return from San Francisco, but she hadn't heard anything from him, and neither had Kelly or Carol when she asked them. Carol was supposed to go to San Francisco soon as well, some assignment she had a keen interest in keeping tabs on even though she didn't dare breathe a word of it to her father. Meanwhile, Madelyn's own work at the university was taking up more than enough of her time, but if she saw John several times a week, it more than made up for everything.

But as the days raced by, and January turned into February, Madelyn knew she was getting restless.

She woke up sick a few days in a row and had to cancel all of her classes at the last minute, unable to climb out of bed without being overwhelmed with nausea. By the afternoon of her fourth day of nausea, she finally went to her doctor who prescribed some medication. When it was suggested that she could be pregnant because of her recent sexual activity, Madelyn quickly dismissed the idea, knowing all of the tests she had undergone in the past had proven that pregnancy would never be a possibility for her, and she woke feeling much better the next day. She couldn't recall the last time she'd gotten sick, and blamed it on her work. She'd let stress and lack of sleep get to her, and her body had suffered the consequences of it. But the fact that she didn't feel the need to tell John that she'd been sick was what bothered her the most.

Finally, Madelyn decided that she wasn't going to put up with his one-track desire for her body each and every time she saw him. If this was ever going to become more than a sexual affair, she was going to have to do something about it herself. The next time she saw John, she managed to convince him to get some air with her, and not just out on the back deck. She literally dodged his advance and pulled him towards the door, handing him his coat on the way out. She knew she was giving him a hard time but she couldn't tell what he was thinking in return, only acquiescing to her insistence after she made it clear that she wanted to spend time with him doing something other than having sex. When he interrupted her rambling by pointing out that they didn't do the same thing every week, Madelyn only responded with a sideways look and a suggestive smile. She knew exactly what he meant, but having sex in multiple positions and locations was still just having sex.

It was after dark and snowing when they stepped outside together. Madelyn wrapped her scarf more tightly around her neck as John's arm snaked around her waist, holding her tightly against him. They walked in silence for a while, across the street and through a nearby sparsely populated park. Madelyn glanced up at him several times, and each time his expression was tight and as cold as the air, but he never returned her look. Pressing her lips together in frustration, she stepped out in front of him, forcing him to stop and look down at her. Now she could tell his mind had been elsewhere.

"What's wrong?" she said quietly. "Don't act like I can't tell you're hiding something from me." She offered him a faint smile to let him know she wasn't being totally serious. Despite the intensity of his disconcerting gaze, she never broke eye contact.

"It's nothing you need to be concerned with," he replied.

She didn't budge when he took a step towards her and his hands snaked around her waist, pulling her up against him. "But we never talk," she murmured. "At least, you don't. What's going on?"

John didn't respond at first. She could hear him breathing above her, and she wondered briefly if she really smelled that nice. Then his lips descended to hers and she didn't try to stop him. She wrapped her arms around his neck, taking his mouth fully until she realized that she hadn't gotten a straight answer out of him, then she pulled away, putting him almost at arm's length.

"Can you at least tell me something?" she asked.

His gaze wavered and he looked about ready to respond, until a distinct chime emanated from his coat pocket. He pulled out his communicator, his attention focused completely on what came on-screen.

Madelyn chewed on her lower lip, waiting for him to look at her again. She saw his brow furrow as he read the message, his eyes flitting back and forth several times, narrowing as they did. His jaw tightened and his nostrils flared, and suddenly there was a crunching sound as he crushed the device in his fist. Madelyn stared as he flung the broken pieces to the ground, turning on his heel without a word or a glance. It took Madelyn a second to realize that he was striding quickly away.

"Hey!" she called. "What's going on?"

He paused midstep and turned enough so she could see his face again. She hated that he masked his emotions so well, but given the state of the shattered communicator beside her feet, she knew it couldn't be good.

"You should go home," he said, his voice vibrating with something that sent a chill down her spine.

"John, what is it?"

She knew the unintentional tremor in her voice would give him pause, but he turned quickly away again, his hands clenched into fists at his side. "I said go home."

He didn't look at her again as she stood there watching him disappear into the snowy night. After a moment of anger, she glanced down at the ground where his shattered communicator lay in a pile. Picking it up, she looked at how dented and disjointed and cracked the device was. He'd done that with a single clench of his fist.

And now she had no way of contacting him.

Feeling another wave of anger rise up inside her, Madelyn stifled it and called Kelly. She would need more than one drink before the night was over.

The torpedoes were gone, all seventy-two of them, each one carefully concealing a member of his crew. His plan had been discovered, and now he had every reason to believe that Marcus had destroyed the torpedoes and murdered his crew hidden away inside them, helpless and unconscious inside their stasis pods.

Khan had done everything to ensure this wouldn't happen, and still he had been found out. Someone inside Section 31 had betrayed him.

As he stormed through the city on foot, every step he took felt heavier than the last. He had no other options left. His crew was gone and now he was alone, save for Madelyn. He considered going back to get her, but instantly knew he couldn't do that. He'd suspected there had been Starfleet eyes on her for some time now, and Marcus would have people out looking for him. He'd be walking right into a trap if he was seen with her again, and he couldn't risk putting her in danger. She would have to wait.

The beginnings of a plan were already formulating in Khan's mind. He would only need a small amount of time to make it work. A week, two at most. In that time, he could stay under the radar while Marcus sent people out looking for him.

In order to get to Marcus, he would need to first send a message; something that would let Marcus know he wasn't going to let him win, and something that would put the Admiral right in his crosshairs. There was one man new to 31 that Khan knew he could easily coerce into doing something for him, and it was the only way he would be able to gain access to the Archives now.

There was no reason not to respond to the Admiral's actions with anything less than the most brutal measures. He'd briefly corresponded with another agent of 31's on a newly manufactured explosive material, easily formed into an object of any shape, and easily smuggled out with a simple request for materials.

Already, the pieces of this plan were falling into place in his mind. But in order to make it work in reality, he would have to stay hidden and he would have to be careful.

Khan knew that once he'd triggered this series of events, there was no going back. After Marcus was dead, he would be forced to hide. He would need a quick way to get off planet, and he would go where Starfleet would never dare follow him.

The closer he got to his destination, the angrier he found himself becoming. All of his plans for the future had been laid to waste, and all of his hopes of saving his crew destroyed. Madelyn would slip through his fingers just like his crew and he would be left to run alone, once Starfleet was laid to waste.

His fingernails cut into his palms. He needed to forget her for now. His quickly contrived idea would require the utmost in careful planning and manipulation on his part. His crew didn't deserve anything less.

His crew deserved vengeance.

Two weeks passed and Madelyn didn't hear a single word from John. She stopped by the studio flat everyday just in case he decided to come back and apologize, or at least explain himself, but he never showed. She knew there was no point in calling him since he'd destroyed his communicator in front of her. Something had made him angry enough to do that and the sinking feeling in her stomach told her it was his work in Starfleet, that he was so preoccupied with it he didn't even care to let her know he didn't want to see her anymore.

On one hand, she was angry with herself for letting their relationship morph into an exclusively sexual affair, but she was growing more and more concerned over his sudden disappearance. Work was a helpful distraction, as the middle of the semester was approaching and with it came midterm exams to give and loads of other work to grade, but with each day that passed, it hurt more and more when she continued to have no idea where he was while having no way of contacting him.

"If he wanted to break it off, he could at least have the courtesy to tell you face to face," said Kelly one day when the two of them were shopping at the corner supermarket just a few blocks from their flat. It was the first time since John had left that Madelyn had really had a chance to talk with her roommate, but she knew Kelly didn't have much to offer her in the way of sound advice.

"I think you should just forget about him, to be honest," Kelly continued, snatching a few cans off a shelf and dropping them in her basket. "He wanted sex, you gave it, and now he's tossed you and has probably moved on to someone else."

Madelyn threw her young roommate a look. "Thanks, that's really encouraging. If only I could call him and find out the truth. Oh right, he crushed his communicator in his bare hand right in front of me." The sarcasm in her voice was intentional and she didn't bother to watch for Kelly's reaction. She went down an aisle containing various over the counter medications, looking for something that could ease her bouts of nausea that had recently returned. She was starting to suspect it was her diet, which consisted of everything and anything she happened to be craving. "Besides I'm pretty sure the only thing he's interested in now is his work."

Kelly came up beside her and handed her a bottle of Dramamine with a knowing look. "Like I said, you need to forget about him."

Madelyn took the bottle and tossed it into her basket. "You know it's not that simple. Something's not right. I know him and he would never leave like that without at least saying something. For all we know, there was an emergency at the Io facility and it couldn't wai—shit, I never said that." She bit her lip when she realized she'd just spilled a tidbit of classified information that John had trusted her with to the one person she knew who had a penchant for babbling about everything. It was worse now that Kelly was grinning.

"Official secrets? Well then, maybe he will come back and explain himself once he hears you're revealing classified information."

"Not before I cut my hand on his cheekbones," Madelyn muttered. She heard her roommate snort but ignored it. "I just hope he's okay."

The two women headed for the checkout line, but Kelly insisted on stopping in front of her suddenly. "Now see, that's your problem. You're so attached to him, more attached than you should be given the nature of your relationship—which I wouldn't even call a relationship so much as a friends with benefits thing. But you've got to see that maybe he's not interested in that additional romantic aspect, and maybe he wants you to see that as well."

"That still doesn't excuse his behavior," Madelyn replied, attempting to step around her friend. Then she started and stared at her. "Why are you defending him?"

Kelly's expression softened. "I'm just trying to help you out, Maddy. I know this is hard. When you first met him, he just didn't seem like the type of man you'd be attracted to, and to be honest I was really surprised when I found out that you two were…"

Madelyn looked at her friend and was suddenly so grateful for her honesty, but she had no reply. Kelly put a hand on her arm.

"I know you trusted him, but maybe he's hiding something. Maybe you don't know him as well as you think you do."

"What could he possibly be hiding? He's told me all about his work. It's the only thing that seems to matter to him." The thought that John cared more for his work than her suddenly stung.

Kelly shrugged and set her basket down on the conveyer belt to be scanned. "Men like him always have secrets. Some are just better at hiding them than others."

Madelyn opened her mouth to respond, but her thoughts were vaporized when the ground shuddered and a rack of wine bottles clinked together nearby. In the distance, there was a gradual cascading rumble. She exchanged glances with Kelly, and then one of the shop's attendants rushed by them, yelling something about a bomb.

Their purchases forgotten on the conveyer belt, the two women rushed outside to join the growing numbers of people who had also heard the noise and felt it. Madelyn craned her neck in the direction several people were now looking and pointing and saw a large gray cloud of smoke rising into the air between skyscrapers.

"There's been an attack!" someone was yelling nearby. Other people quickly pulled out their phones and communication devices, dialing friends and loved ones. Madelyn felt Kelly tugging her away but needed a moment. She felt her heart sinking into her gut. The blast had hit right in the heart of central London, where John had said he worked.

"Maddy, let's go home," Kelly was pleading, her voice trembling. "Come on, please."

Madelyn swallowed and chanced another glance at the growing blast cloud before turning and following her scared roommate back to their apartment, while over and over in her mind, she cursed at John Harrison for having left her without even saying goodbye.

Whoo hoo finally getting a bit of action! Again I apologize for the length of time you all had to wait for this chapter, but I suppose my excuse is valid, it being the holidays and all. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. It wasn't as long as I'd wanted it to be, which I apologize for as well. But please review! I love receiving your feedback! I'll try to have the next chapter posted sooner than this one was.