Hello I am back! I'm so so so so so so so so sorry for the amount of time I made you wait, and it is completely my own fault. I've been busy with life and also procrastinating and dealing with writer's block but I desperately want to continue this story. Again I apologize profusely for the wait and I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Also thanks to Amatista, cielxbassy, CLTex, DanAlaya, Illulian, KnoKnayme, nickiR0x, peerme, Poodle warriors, and all you sweet guests for all your lovely comments and reviews on chapter 14. You guys are the bomb!

Chapter 15 – Aftermath

"You were foolish to believe I ever cared about you."

Madelyn's phaser was snatched away, shattering in Khan's fist. The broken pieces clattered across the slick, dark floor. Stricken with fear, she tried to speak as he advanced on her, his cold fingers wrapping around her neck. His pale features twisted savagely, eyes dark and wild behind dead black hair.

"You are only in my way now," he hissed between his teeth. She clawed at him with numb fingers, her throat constricting, cutting off her air supply. Her back hit the cold wall and his grip tightened.

The wall dematerialized and she slipped through it, the floor disappearing beneath her feet. Falling backwards, she fought for breath as Khan's face became Alexander Marcus' cracked skull. Glistening blood dripped down his cheeks in the darkness.

"I warned you," said Marcus. "Now it's too late."

She was falling, gasping for air, the ground rushing quickly up to meet her—

Cool light burned her vision as she jerked awake. Her heart pounded in her ribcage and her gaze darted frantically around her. Sunlight filtered through half-shaded windows, casting bright rectangles on plain white walls. Khan wasn't there and neither was Marcus. She was alone.

Sinking back into the soft sheets with a sigh, she steadied her breathing, staring up at the ceiling. Subtle beeping from a panel of medical readouts on the wall snagged her attention briefly and she craned her neck to look for a date or time. February 27th. It took her less than a moment to realize she'd missed over a day since she could last remember anything, and then everything came rushing back to her at once.

The Enterprise. Kirk and Kronos. Khan. Marcus and his massive ship. The crash—

A tinge of panic made her sit up and push the sheets away from her bare legs. Khan was out there somewhere. Swinging her legs around to the floor, her attempt to slide out of bed was halted by overwhelming nausea. She slipped a hand across her abdomen, faint relief briefly replacing her fear. She remembered the injury to her leg, the blood seeping into her jeans and over her fingers. She must have been alright if her pregnancy was still acting in full force.

She pulled away the thin material of her hospital gown to examine her thigh, goosebumps traveling across her skin when she was hit with the room's cool, sterile air. There was a thin scar across her thigh, barely visible and most likely the neat and tidy work of an autosuture, she assumed. Dr. McCoy walked in as she was pulling her gown back over her leg. He didn't lift his gaze from his PADD as he crossed the room, but based on his deep frown lines, Madelyn suspected something was wrong.

"How're you feelin?" he asked, turning his back to inspect the medical readouts on the wall.

"Pretty good," she replied optimistically. She swallowed at her encroaching nausea.

McCoy turned and held a scanner next to her head. "Feeling lightheaded at all? Vision doing anything unusual?"

She shook her head. McCoy didn't meet her gaze, his eyes flitting across his instruments and back to his PADD. "Your leg healed up quick. Only needed to use an autosuture and you can thank your Augment DNA for the rest. You were sliced down to the bone but you're lucky your femoral artery wasn't touched. Anyway, an ordinary human would've bled to death from a wound like that, but I kept you sedated a little longer just to make sure."

Madelyn didn't know how to respond to that. It was still news to her that she wasn't an "ordinary human."

"But the baby's fine?" she asked quietly.

"Baby's fine. Growin' quickly too, for the timeframe. You could start showing within a month."

She was silent for a moment, digesting that information. McCoy glanced at her when she didn't respond. "It's been two days," she said.

"Like I said, you're not an ordinary human."

As if she needed him to repeat that information.

"So where are we?" she asked.

McCoy continued to tap away at his PADD. "Starfleet Medical. San Francisco."

"I thought Khan crashed Marcus' ship into Starfleet Headquarters. I heard him give the order. I was onboard, in case you forgot."

McCoy raised an eyebrow, his fingers pausing. "Well, he missed."

She considered that the ship had been racked with massive explosions. Its guidance systems could have been damaged, and the computer had mentioned compromised engines. But it didn't matter now.

She looked back at McCoy as he turned to relay his information onto the medical readouts on the wall, the seriousness of his silent expression nudging her curiosity. She wanted to ask him what was wrong, but her fears about Khan took first priority.

"Do we know where Khan is?" she asked quietly, attempting to sound detached. She didn't want to come across as unsettled as she felt with the remnants of her dream still lingering in the back of her mind.

"He's in custody," was McCoy's simple answer. Too simple. His mind seemed to be elsewhere.

"Bones, what is it?"

He tensed, his brow tightening when he finally looked at her again. "It's Jim."

"Is he alright?"

McCoy shook his head. "After Khan attacked the Enterprise, she was good as gone. Would've ended up like Marcus' ship if Jim hadn't climbed into the warp core and fixed it manually. Radiation poisoning practically killed him."

"But he's not dead, is he?" She swallowed at the thought that Khan's actions had contributed to yet another fatality, this one suddenly a lot closer to home even though she barely knew the captain.

"He's gonna need some time," he replied. "I used a sample of Khan's blood to speed up his cells' regeneration, but it's the transfusion itself that's taking its toll now."

Madelyn barely heard the last part. "What do you mean you're using Khan's blood?"

"It's got fascinating regenerative properties. At the time it was the only way—"

"Bones, where is Khan?" she repeated. She felt her panic returning.

"I told you, he's in custody."

She wasn't satisfied with that. "Where?"

He seemed hesitant to respond and centered his gaze on her, setting his PADD down on the bed. "He's being kept in this hospital," he said quietly. She stared at him, then swung her feet to the floor and attempted to move around him. "I'm leaving—"

"Madelyn, he's completely sedated."

She hardly noticed when he grabbed her arm to stop her, as crippling nausea made her double over. She slipped from McCoy's grasp and managed to make it into the bathroom just in time to empty the contents of her stomach into the toilet. Leaning back on her heels after a moment, she settled against the wall, wiping her mouth with some toilet paper. Her gaze landed on McCoy who was standing above her in the doorway.

"Why the hell is he in this hospital?" she muttered.

"I've got somethin' for your morning sickness," said McCoy.

"Answer the question."

He looked down at her thoughtfully. "In order to be safely sedated, Khan needed constant medical supervision. Keeping him unconscious is like knockin' out an elephant. But he doesn't know you're here."

Madelyn stood up carefully, then flushed the wad of tissue into the toilet and turned on the sink to rinse her mouth out. Of course Khan knew she was here. He was the smartest person she'd ever met and it would be an obvious deduction for him. She didn't feel like counteracting McCoy's attempt to encourage her, however, and splashed cold water on her face as he continued.

"I got an official communication yesterday requesting you and Khan be transferred to a medical facility I didn't know existed until now. Obviously I'm not gonna do that, since Khan is in Federation custody and isn't goin' anywhere anytime soon. Not to mention the man who sent me the request is in my professional opinion clinically unstable. But it made me wonder how he could know that you two have… similar traits."

Madelyn dried her face with a towel and stared at herself in the mirror for a moment. Her hair needed to be washed and there were remnants of dust and debris clinging to her skin. "What was his name?" she asked.

McCoy crossed his arms and leaned against the doorjamb. "Dr. Hans Madsen."

Madelyn worried on her lower lip for a moment before turning to face him. "That's not possible. He was on Marcus' ship."

McCoy raised his eyebrows. "Well apparently he survived."

Madelyn shook her head, unable to find a way to explain this. "After Marcus beamed me over from the Enterprise, Madsen took a ton of my blood. It's like he expected to find something, and he knew I was pregnant too." Saying it out loud, she realized she wanted to stay far away from anything Madsen had to do with, especially if he'd somehow survived the crash. A second person to intentionally avoid now, she realized, as if Khan wasn't bad enough.

"Well that reeks of all kinds of weird," said McCoy. Madelyn didn't respond. Walking across the room towards the windows, she ran her hand around the back of her neck and over her collarbones, holding her other arm across her chest. The necklace she'd worn for months, the one Khan had given her, had been removed. Probably kept with her clothing and other personal effects. She considered asking to have it thrown out, but remembered the photos inside it. Momentary sentiment was replaced with quiet burning rage at Khan and his manipulation.

She pushed the window's shades away to take in the view. She was higher up than she expected, but from there she could see the enormous cylindrical hull of Marcus' decrepit ship wedged into the central of San Francisco's business district. Flashing beacons cordoned the area off, while demolition and utility vehicles hovered around it, the clean-up process already in full swing. Her gaze retreated from ground zero and she noted the Starfleet insignia gracing more than a few nearby structures.

Turning from the window, she saw McCoy inputting data into his PADD again. "So what now?" she said quietly.

He studied her with a sad glint in his eye. "I've heard rumors that Khan's gonna stand trial, but nothing's official yet. First Jim has to wake up."

"He's already killed so many people. How many died in the crash alone?" She glanced back towards the windows. "He doesn't deserve a trial. He deserves to go to prison and never come out again."

"So all that talk about not firing torpedoes on him when he was on Kronos, all of that meant nothin'?"

"He lied, Bones! He lied about everything."

"People don't go to jail for the rest of their lives because they lied about their identities."

He was right. They didn't. But all Madelyn could think of was how much it hurt. Khan had led her on for months, made her believe he was someone that he wasn't. She had trusted him. Maybe she had loved him, but she wasn't sure. Their relationship had been based on some sort of connection, however physical it'd remained. But now the more she thought about it, the more she felt like an idiot. He'd practically seduced her and she'd fallen for him despite herself. She felt like she'd been used, and in a sense she had.

Khan had known somehow that he could get her pregnant, and she was convinced that all of the intimacy they'd shared had been exactly about that. While he had portrayed a façade of concern for her wellbeing, she realized he had probably been more concerned with what he could gain through using her. In this case, it was another Augment.

Her hand subconsciously slid across her stomach, still flat and nowhere near showing outward signs of carrying a growing baby. That was why he could never know she was pregnant. If he ever found out that he'd succeeded in his original intentions towards her, now that his crew was gone she would become the central object of his pursuit. The idea made her sick.

McCoy's soft voice shook her from her thoughts. "Madelyn, I know you're angry. I can't imagine being put in your position. But I can tell you that putting Khan in prison indefinitely and without a trial is no way to handle someone who was designed for death and destruction. I imagine they'll hold a tribunal and lay down some very specific orders for what's to be done with him. I can guarantee you he won't get away with anything. Practically everyone in Starfleet's lost someone due to him, or knows someone who has."

Madelyn crossed her arms over her chest. "If Spock hadn't killed Khan's crew, I wouldn't feel so nervous about all of this. That was the reason he crashed the ship into the city in the first place."

"Spock didn't kill Khan's crew," said McCoy.

Madelyn straightened.

"We removed the cryotubes from their torpedoes before Khan beamed them aboard his ship. They're still on the Enterprise now, but they're gonna be transferred somewhere for safekeepin'."

This revelation made Madelyn's jaw drop. If Khan even heard so much as a whisper of this, he could explode and take them all down with him. Keeping him ignorant of his crew's survival meant that he could potentially be more easily controlled. Madelyn couldn't even believe she was considering this, but given his behavior immediately following his crew's apparent detonation, they had meant everything to him. Without them, he had nothing to strive for or care about—except her.

"I can't believe I'm about to say this," she said slowly, "but I could talk to him. Figure out where he is at this point, what he's feeling, what's important to him."

McCoy stared at her incredulously. "Why the hell do you wanna do that? A minute ago you wanted him thrown in jail without a trial."

Madelyn reached up to pinch the bridge of her nose and get her thoughts in line. "Marcus told me he had proof of my affair with Khan. At the time, he said he could use it to blackmail me into cooperating. He forced me onto the Enterprise because he wanted to get rid of me along with Khan and his crew, but that's not the point. If there's photographic evidence that I spent a considerable amount of time with Khan before he started killing people, then that means I'll probably be asked to testify."

"You're not the one who's gonna be charged, Madelyn."

"I know. But if I'm going to testify against Khan—which I'm not looking forward to the more I think about it—I need to know where he stands because you can be damn sure that he'll do anything to get what he wants." She hesitated, thoughts drifting back to how he had slowly stepped into her life and she had held the door wide open for him. "And I need to know what he wants."

McCoy eyed her silently for another moment. "So you wanna talk to him to figure out what his motives are now, since he thinks he's lost his crew."

"That's what it's been about from the start. Marcus took his crew, threatened to kill them if he didn't cooperate, and when Khan's plan to smuggle them away was found out, Marcus led him to believe they were dead, and you know the rest."

"And since he believes his crew is really dead this time, maybe he'll just give up," said McCoy. "Is that what you're thinkin'?"

"Maybe. Maybe I can get him to give up. The important thing is I know something he doesn't, which is a first. The last thing I wanna do is see him again, but—" An image flashed into her mind of Marcus' skull cracking between Khan's hands. She didn't want anything to do with him. She couldn't even believe she was considering this, especially when his child was growing inside her. "But I'm probably the only person he might talk to."

McCoy nodded slowly, clearly considering her idea. "I'll see if I can find a way to get you in there without raising eyebrows."

"Thank you," she replied. "Oh, Bones."

McCoy paused on his way out the door.

"Is Carol alright?"

"Dr. Carol Marcus? She's just down the hall." He offered her a faint smile before shutting the door behind him.

Madelyn ran her fingers through her scalp and took a long, deep breath, letting it out smoothly. It was about more than just gauging Khan's state of mind, though she didn't want to tell McCoy. She didn't want to tell anyone what Khan had done while that massive ship had fallen out of the sky. He'd saved her life, and she could barely acknowledge it to herself without feeling confused and angry. It was what made her suspect that he still wanted her, and she needed to show him that she didn't want him back. But if he found out that she was pregnant—

No, she couldn't think about it. Besides, there was no way he could know. She wasn't showing and wouldn't be for a while, hopefully for whatever length of time his trial lasted.

She looked down at her hospital gown, and then at the dirt in the pores of her arm. She could try to forget about everything for the time being by taking a long hot shower, but she knew things were far from over.

Carol's leg was wrapped in a thick cast and propped up in a sling to keep her from moving it. When Madelyn knocked on the doorjamb to announce her presence, Carol's gloomy expression lifted a little, but her blue eyes didn't sparkle the way they used to. She set her PADD to the side as Madelyn ambled into the room with her fingers stuck in her jeans pockets and slid a chair over to the bed to sit down.

"Carol, I am so sorry—"

Carol held up a hand. "No, Maddy, I don't want you to apologize for anything. None of this was your fault. It was that psychopath of an ex-boyfriend of yours. I'm assuming he's your ex now," she added quickly.

Madelyn forced herself to smile to match Carol's lighthearted tone. She could tell immediately that her friend was compensating for her own grief, and she knew they were both thinking the same thing. It was her father's fault from the start. All of it. If Marcus had never woken Khan in the first place, none of this would've ever happened. But Madelyn wasn't going to say that out loud, because Marcus was dead now and his daughter who happened to be her friend was in no condition to be talking about it.

"How are you feeling?" Madelyn asked.

Carol shifted a little, using her arms to reposition herself. "Well my leg is broken and my bum is sore. But Dr. McCoy said it's a clean break and I could be back on my feet in a few weeks, with crutches of course."

"Great!" Madelyn felt her grin growing more genuine.

"Yeah." Carol didn't sound as pleased. "I'll probably be sitting at a desk from now on, or in a lab. No more running around hands-on work for a long time. I'll have to find something to keep myself from getting bored. Maybe start a foundation to aid the victims of Khan's attacks. Did you know my father's being considered a hero? This morning, a few of his colleagues stopped by who want to give him a posthumous award. I don't even know what to think. They have no idea what he did—"

Carol's voice cracked and Madelyn reached over to take her hand. "I'm sorry, Carol. I'm sorry you had to go through that."

Carol reached up to dash tears from her face, swallowing back her sobs. "Oh god, I'm sorry. I never get this way."

Madelyn smiled knowingly. She knew her friend had never been comfortable with shows of emotion, but there was no reason for her to feel that way while they were together. "Carol, it's okay. You're a strong, amazing, intelligent person and I'm so glad you're my friend because I'd be at a loss as to who to talk to while I'm stuck in this hospital."

Carol looked at her with watery eyes, chewing on her upper lip. "But you look fine, Maddy. I'm shocked actually, that you weren't hurt worse than I was, since you were on the ship when it went down."

Madelyn's smile faded. "It's a long story. I'm just glad that we're both relatively alright. You know if you ever need anything, I'll be right around the corner."

Carol attempted a faint smile and sniffed, wiping her eyes. "So you won't be going back to London?"

Madelyn straightened and leaned back in her seat, reminded that she needed to call Kelly. "Bones—Dr. McCoy and I discussed what might happen with regards to Khan. There's probably going to be a trial."

"Are you going to testify?"

"I don't know," Madelyn replied slowly. There was suddenly a conundrum she hadn't thought of before. The only negatives things she had in her arsenal against Khan would require her to come out and declare herself pregnant without consent. People would question why she was keeping the baby, and then there was the issue of Khan himself finding out, which was the last thing she wanted.

However, if she decided to keep her pregnancy as much of a secret as it was now, she would have little in the way of proof that Khan had hurt her personally. She knew her side of the story would never stand up alone in a court room, but coupled with the horrific eyewitness accounts that others were sure to give regarding the events of the last few days, maybe it wouldn't matter.

"Even if I don't testify," said Madelyn, "I want to be there when he's charged for what he did. I want to see them take him away."

Carol nodded silently, a knowing look in her eye.

"I should probably call Kelly," Madelyn added, standing from her chair. "All she knows was that I was going to San Francisco, and I'm sure all of this has made the news by now. She'll be freaking out."

"Yeah, don't watch the news, Maddy. They have no clue what's happened."

Madelyn noticed the bitterness in Carol's voice and reached down to squeeze her shoulder gently. "We're gonna be alright."

"Are we? Are you?"

Madelyn hesitated, regarding Carol thoughtfully. She wanted to believe it herself, that things would turn around quickly. The trial, inevitable, was just a bump in the road, but she could move past this. She had to.

"You get some rest, ok?" she said quietly. Carol nodded.

Madelyn left the room and went to retrieve her communicator from her bag, which had been set inside the locker in her own room. Next to her bag was the silver locket she'd received for Christmas. From Khan, she reminded herself. It had all been part of his manipulation. She grabbed her communicator and shut the locker. The only reason she couldn't bring herself to toss the necklace altogether was because of the photo protected inside it. She'd find a way to get it removed eventually, but it wasn't a priority right now.

Kelly didn't pick up and Madelyn was forced to leave a message. She kept it brief and vague but peppered with reassurances. She didn't want her roommate freaking out even more than she probably already was. Next, she contacted Naomi at the university and briefly explained that she would need an extended leave of absence from her job. The department head seemed to understand, though she was hesitant to agree at first and made it clear that Madelyn's vague reasons for needing the extended break weren't playing in her favor.

"I'm not asking for paid leave," Madelyn explained quickly. "I don't need the money. I just need the time. A month at the most."

"The timing is frankly quite terrible, Madelyn. It's the middle of the semester. But given what I'm seeing on the news, I suppose I don't have much of a choice if you're in San Francisco."

"Thank you." Madelyn felt a slight weight lift from her shoulders. "I'll call you back as soon as I have an update."

There was a momentary pause on the other end. "Madelyn."

"Yes?"

"I don't suppose there's anything you want to tell me… anything I should know about."

She swallowed at Naomi's careful tone. "No, there really isn't. I'll be fine. I just need time."

"Alright. And you will call me back."

"Of course."

Naomi ended the call, leaving Madelyn feeling more relieved and more guilty at the same time. She was grateful that she'd cultivated this relationship with her boss, but the strain her absence would put on the university wasn't going to do her career any favors. They depended on her, but there was nothing she could do about it now.

The following morning, McCoy informed her that he'd made quiet arrangements and she could see Khan as soon as she was ready. Madelyn took a little time to gather her thoughts and steel herself emotionally, determined more than anything to hide her pregnancy. She was extremely grateful that she wasn't showing yet, but the morning sickness had yet to let up and she downed an extra dosage of the medication McCoy had provided her before following him down the hall to where there was an obvious uptick in security.

"He's in here," McCoy said when they paused in front of a heavy door with a small window in it, guarded by two silent security officers. "He's still sedated but not enough to keep him from talking. I'm assuming that's what you want."

Madelyn nodded, her gaze fixed on Khan's unmoving figure through the window. His arms and feet were restrained to the bed and various sensors were attached to his bare chest. He looked asleep from where she stood, but she knew the moment she stepped into the room his eyes would open and settle on her.

"Alright, open the door," she said quietly.

McCoy nodded to the security officers and Madelyn was let inside. The door clicked shut behind her as soon as she was clear, but she hesitated to go further. Several more silent security officers guarded the room, not even glancing at her, their attention fixed on Khan where he lay motionless, shackled and sedated in bed.

"If you're here to gloat, Madelyn, I suggest you take a seat."

She swallowed at the tone of his voice. Disinterested but clearly not ready to give up. He sounded tired, but that could've just been the drugs.

"I'm not here to gloat," she countered, although inside she was relieved and practically exuberant to see Khan this way. "I'm here to talk."

"What could you possibly want to talk about? You made it quite clear you wanted nothing to do with me." His eyebrows lifted faintly. "Unless there's something specific you'd like to fill me in on."

She felt her trepidation quickly slipping away. He was trying to get under her skin with the suggestion that he knew about her pregnancy, but whether he did or not, she wouldn't give him the pleasure of confirming his suspicions. With her arms crossed tightly across her chest, she took a few careful steps towards the bed so that she was looking down at him.

"I'm here because I need to know where you stand," she said.

Khan turned his smooth face up towards her, regarding her coolly with narrowed eyes. "Where I stand?" he breathed. He almost sounded offended. "Oh, Madelyn, do you have any idea what you sound like?" He was practically seething now. "Do you have any idea what they have done?!" He abruptly strained against the restraints on his arms, unable to break them but successfully denting the sides of the bed's metallic frames with a loud scraping noise. Madelyn took a subconscious step backwards.

"You're angry," she replied as calmly and as softly as she could.

The veins in his arms were bulging as he continued to pull at his restraints with clenched fists. After his efforts proved to be useless, he relaxed and turned his face towards the ceiling. "I was led to believe I would safely regain the torpedoes in which I'd hidden my people, but Mr. Spock betrayed me and killed them all. I have every reason to be angry.

It was the only thing she could think of on which she agreed with Khan. All of his other actions, however, negated what she might normally feel for him in this situation. "There's going to be a trial, at some point," she said.

"Are you going to testify against me? Will you tell them all of the horrible things I did to you?"

"You know it's more complicated than that—"

"No," Khan cut her off. "No, of course not. I never harmed a hair on your head. I would never dream of it."

"You know you're in no position to be talking this," she replied. She took a few steps back towards him. She wanted to get in his face, at least so she could assert whatever it was that she could over him. Ever since he'd revealed his true identity to be Khan, she'd barely been able to look him in the eye, but now things were different.

She tried to ignore the way his eyes were flitting over her and focused on the tension in his jaw, the sudden frustration in his eyes as she closed in on him. He couldn't touch her and she knew it. The only thing keeping him from doing so were the drugs soaked into his system. They were also the only thing keeping him restrained in this bed. She could tell he was fighting to remain lucid, but she wondered how much of this was really just as act on his part, whether he could have broken free with enough effort. Whatever the case, she was grateful for the security officers flanking the room.

"Why are you here, Madelyn, if not to gloat?" Khan drawled, his unguarded tone catching her by surprise.

"I told you why I'm here."

He ignored her. "You're gloating now. I can see it in the way the corner of your mouth has lifted slightly, and your fingers are no longer clenching your arm, which means you're more comfortable with your present situation than you were a few minutes ago. No, I think you're here to convince me that you hate me. You're here to convince yourself that you don't need me anymore."

Madelyn gritted her teeth, fighting to restrain her growing anger. "I never needed you," she said quietly, lowering her voice in case the security officers nearby got interested. She removed her arms from her chest so she could clench her fists at her sides, digging her fingernails into her palms as she pressed her face towards Khan's. "You are a lying bastard. You manipulated me for months, you used me for sex, and when you didn't want me anymore you tossed me away because the only thing that you actually cared about was more important than telling me the truth. And then you left, and the next thing I know you're a terrorist. You've killed hundreds, maybe thousands of people just in the last few days. And your name isn't even John Harrison. So excuse me if I don't see how I ever needed you."

She was practically leaning over him now, shooting arrows from her eyes into his cool façade. She barely had time to react when strong, cold fingers slid around her arm and pulled her closer. Khan's expression grew smugger. "Don't tell me about being used, Madelyn," he murmured. "You have no idea what it's like."

She screamed at herself internally for carelessly getting too close. His grip around her arm didn't let up, and only tightened when she pulled against him. "Let go of me," she said through gritted teeth.

"If you make a scene, those officers will shoot us both. I doubt the after-effects of a phaser blast would be healthy for the baby."

Madelyn tensed, her widening gaze glued to Khan's face. He hardly seemed to notice her reaction.

"Dr. McCoy may have your best interests in mind, but he answers to a higher authority. Don't think for one second that this is over. Now please, tell me one thing. Are you pregnant?"

"What?" She felt panic overriding her initial anger.

"This is very important, Madelyn. Are you pregnant or not?"

Her heart was thudding violently in her chest. She couldn't lie to him. He would see right through her, and he'd already gone with the assumption that she was. "Let me go," she demanded quietly.

"The trial will go smoothly. I'll be disposed of one way or another, and as soon as you're out of witness protection, they will find you and there will be nothing to stop them this time."

Madelyn strained against his grip. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"It became irrelevant the moment Marcus took my crew from me, which is why I didn't pursue it once I had you. But now things have changed. So tell me, are you pregnant?"

She glanced at the security officers nearby. She didn't want rumors spreading about her, especially not if what Khan was telling her was true. He could've just been saying these things to frighten her and to get information.

"Do you think if I was that I would even tell you?" she replied, never shirking her gaze from his. If that was disappointment registering on his features, it was barely noticeable. His fingers loosened around her arm and she straightened, backing away out of his reach.

"For both of your sakes, after the trial is over I suggest you start a new life somewhere else, perhaps on one of the Federation's colonies. You will not be safe on Earth as long as you are alone."

Madelyn stared back at him across the distance she'd created between them. "What makes you think I still believe anything you have to say?"

A faint smile crossed his features. "I'll see you in court, Madelyn."

With conflicting thoughts racing through her head, she whirled around and escaped the room before she gave herself away to him. If he didn't know she was pregnant, why was he warning her about some threat? Was it the same threat that had made itself apparent when her grandfather had been murdered? And why now? How did her pregnancy make her more of a target?

She stormed away down the hospital's hallway towards her quarters, brushing past Dr. McCoy without a word or a glance. She'd accomplished absolutely nothing by seeing Khan, and had only given him reason to believe that she was in fact carrying his child.

She shut herself away in her room to mull over these things racing through her head. She was angrier with herself than with Khan now. She should have known better than to think she could have an upper hand over him like that. It was almost as if he'd been expecting her.

A knock on the door made her jump and she pushed her thoughts away to reclaim some semblance of a poker face. A sharply dressed businesswoman was there, flanked by two security officers.

"Madelyn McGivers, I presume?"

"Yes? How can I help you?"

The businesswoman whipped out a PADD and held it up to read what was onscreen. "Ms McGivers, you're being accused of accessory before the fact to the crimes committed by the terrorist Khan Noonien Singh on February 24th and 25th. You are being issued a subpoena to appear in court during Mr. Singh's trial, where your testimony will be used not only to determine your guilt or innocence, but to ensure Mr. Singh is prosecuted to the full extent of Federation law. Failure to appear in court will result in an assumed admission of guilt to the previously mentioned accusations, as well as an additional charge of contempt of the court. Please sign here to affirm that you understand the charges being made against you."

Madelyn stared down at the PADD, then back up at the woman's hardened face and disinterested eyes. "Who's making these accusations?"

"I'm not at liberty to say. Please sign, Ms. McGivers. If you don't, I'll be forced to bring you into custody until the trial begins."

She reached for the stylus being held out to her, then hesitated. "I want a lawyer before I do this."

"One will be provided for you."

Madelyn took a breath. She knew she was innocent, but there was no way for her to try and make that claim right now. It seemed court was the only answer. Maybe Marcus' files were being searched and the photos he'd mentioned he could use to blackmail her had been discovered, leaving the worst to be assumed. But she had no idea what to make of it since she'd never seen them herself. With a knot tightening in her stomach, she took the stylus and signed the PADD. The woman tucked it away, her gaze never changing. "You'll be informed of more details shortly. Thank you for your cooperation."

That was all Madelyn heard before they turned and left. She shut the door and leaned back against it, running her fingers through her hair. What was it she was being accused of? Accessory? To Khan's actions? There was no way anyone had any evidence to prove that. She'd been ignorant of his plans the entire time.

She'd been ignorant of everything.

I have plenty of content left for this story, but lately I've been struggling with writer's block, so please review and let me know if you want me to continue!