Here's to another installment of this story! I need to thank BettyLovesCupcakes, Breathewithme, CLTex, EmmaMarie, NanamiYatsumaki, peer me, Poodle warriors, The Key To Knowledge (and others I probably left out) for loyally reading and reviewing this story. I know I say this every time but I really do mean it when I say your feedback means the world. Ok on to the chapter!

Chapter 18 – Of Opportunities

"I can't believe this! Who do those judges think they are?"

Madelyn turned vigorously on her heel as she paced the length of Carol's apartment. Carol was out for the evening, leaving Madelyn free to vent her frustrations while McCoy lingered by the door. It had only been a few hours since the trial had come to a close, and the results were finally sinking in.

"Madelyn, you really need to calm down. Freaking out like this on a regular basis could be bad for the baby."

She huffed, turning back around to face him. Her hands were shaking. "If you were in my place, you'd be just as angry. How can they let him get away with what he did? They charged him GUILTY! He should've been thrown in prison! But no, he's important to science. Make him work! Goddammit, are these people idiots?"

"I couldn't tell ya."

"Bones." She glared at him and he matched the look until she couldn't take it anymore. "I need to get out of here and get back to London. Do you think they'll keep him in San Francisco or let him wander around like Marcus did?"

"Madelyn, I have no idea, alright? I'm as much in the dark about this as you are."

"You don't sound like it."

"I am angry, dammit," McCoy replied. "I've been assigned to the first group of medical officers Khan's gonna assist, whatever the hell that means. Probably get another crack at his blood. The lines here are real blurry now, seein' as genetic enhancements are illegal."

"You could refuse to work with him."

"I know that's what you'd do, but…"

Madelyn had to steal a second look at him. "You're not serious!"

"It's my job."

"No. No way. Your job is to make sure people like Khan don't take over the world again. The Federation seems to have forgotten about that little shred of history."

"There's a chance here I could learn more about the process that helped save Kirk, and there's real potential for lifesaving medical advancements. As long as he's closely guarded, I don't see why he won't help us. Like you said, he thinks his crew is gone. He's got nothin' left to fight for."

So that was what he thought. Maybe that was what everyone thought. Maybe that was what this was all about in the first place. She found herself slowly shaking her head, the urge to leave San Francisco growing stronger and stronger with each passing moment.

"No, that's not true," she said quietly. The way he looked at me in court… "Bones, does he know?"

"That his crew is alive?"

"That I'm pregnant!" She immediately regretted raising her voice and took a breath. "Sorry."

McCoy wasn't fazed. "I haven't said a word. But you know you won't be able to hide it for much longer."

"Which is why I need to get out of town. I need to put as much distance between me and him as I can."

"So not London? What about a colony?"

She hesitated. "I don't know yet. I haven't been to work in a month. I need to call Naomi and see how things are going over there. Maybe I could get a transfer."

"Well, while you're thinking out loud, let me put it in your brain to call me before you up and leave, alright? I wanna do one last check up on you and the little one. You think you can handle that?"

"Yeah," she shrugged, smiling faintly at the way he referred to her unborn baby. "Sure."

"Alright." McCoy nodded in return. "I should go. I've got plenty of work to catch up on, and I'm sure you'd like some time to yourself for a change."

Madelyn nodded and walked him to the door. "So I'll see you around?" she added quickly before he'd walked out of earshot.

"Just call me when you need me, preferably before you leave the country."

She gave a slight wave before quietly shutting the door, then leaned back against it and let out a long sigh. She was tired, tired of the court case that was finally over, tired of the media, the tabloids and the paparazzi. She went over to the window that gave a wide view of the street, watching as a mob of cameras followed McCoy for a short distance as he left the apartment complex. If the events of the past day and a half were any indication, more rumors were sure to start from a handful of photographs taken out of context, and Madelyn was sick of it.

Slavery.

There was really no other term for the situation that Khan had found himself in yet again. The only difference this time was that he was no longer fighting to keep his crew alive. He wasn't fighting for anything. He was serving out the "punishment" that Starfleet apparently thought was enough for someone who had committed multiple acts of terrorism, something Khan found laughable and knew couldn't last for long.

Khan knew what he had done, but his reasons had been more important than anything else in the world. Had Kirk's man not stabbed him in the back on the bridge of the Vengeance, things could have turned out much differently, but now here he was all over again, in a Starfleet lab lending his abilities to the cause of science. Only this time the whole world knew who he was, and most of San Francisco probably wanted him dead. That would be a sentence he would've gladly accepted, if it weren't for the existence of one woman who had managed to slip through his grasp a second time. She was all he'd thought about from the moment he'd learned that his people were gone. She was all he had left.

Ever since he'd overheard Madelyn's heated conversation with Dr. McCoy on the Enterprise, he'd suspected she was carrying his child, though she'd done her best to hide that fact from him. Nothing could quite conceal the way she'd carried herself a little differently in her high heels, not to mention the slightly oversized sweaters she'd taken to wearing, and the long coat that she'd often pulled defensively around herself even without realizing it. What little he'd witnessed of her behavior outside of court had seemed different as well, but that could also be related to her seeming aversion to him. Still she couldn't have been more than a few months along, though Augment pregnancies were known to develop quicker.

Under normal circumstances, none of this would have fazed Khan the way it was now. He felt throbbing anger for having let things go this far, for having pushed her away in his need for absolute revenge. He had been so blind to believe she would passively submit to him after seeing him murder Admiral Marcus the way he had, and so soon after learning his true identity. Justice had been carried out, but Madelyn was a stranger to war. If he'd been thinking more clearly at the time, he would've waited to kill Marcus until after he had his crew and the ship under his control, giving Madelyn a chance to hear him out. But it was too late for that now.

Three days since the trial had come to a close, Khan had restrained himself from making a request to see Madelyn. The last thing he wanted was for her to be put back under Starfleet's spotlight, no matter how intensely he wanted to see her. Even if the request had been granted, the chances that she had left San Francisco were unfortunately high. He'd also been refused access to any PADDs or other devices containing potentially sensitive material, which meant he had no ability to track the GPS chip within Madelyn's necklace, a task that only required a network connection, a few lines of command code and a simple algorithm, and that was assuming she'd kept his necklace in the first place.

There was one person, however, who might have an idea of her whereabouts.

Khan had studied Dr. McCoy closely ever since learning they'd been assigned to work together. McCoy was standing across the lab, inspecting readouts on his PADD and occasionally making comments to another scientist. Khan focused his gaze on the doctor intently for a moment before deciding that starting a conversation in this environment that offered little privacy wasn't ideal. He would need to wait for McCoy to be alone, and then he would confront him.

The opportunity came sooner than he'd expected. As the lab was shut down for the evening, McCoy lingered at his station longer than the rest of his team and Khan made it his business to pause beside him before stepping outside where his armed escort would resume their duties. To the cameras watching the lab from every angle, he would make it look like a scientific gesture, a friendly nod to his new "position" within Starfleet.

"What do you want, Khan?" was McCoy's gruff response before he could open his mouth. The disrespect in his tone made Khan grit his teeth and reconsider his friendly ruse. Instead he cut to the chase.

"How is Madelyn?"

McCoy turned from glaring down at his work and lifted an eyebrow. "You can't be serious."

"Doctor, I believe she's carrying my child," Khan replied quietly. "I'm within my rights to know that she's well."

McCoy regarded him for a moment then straightened in his seat. "I really don't wanna know what makes you think she's—"

"Simply through the use of close observation, doctor. You forget I know her quite well."

McCoy scoffed quietly but quickly smothered it as he turned back to his work. "Well, she's fine, and glad to be done with you."

"Is she still in San Francisco?"

"I really don't think she'd appreciate it if I answered that."

Khan put his hand on the table and leaned into the light over McCoy's work. "I would appreciate it if you did," he said quietly.

"First day on the job and already makin' threats. Why am I not surprised?" McCoy leaned back and met Khan's gaze head on. "Look, she's still in San Francisco. She'll probably be leavin' soon, but she's supposed to call me before she does. I don't need to tell you why, but you need to get it out of your thick Augmented skull that you're ever gonna see her again, because I know she sure doesn't want to and I don't blame her. That enough for ya?"

Khan held the doctor's gaze with cool silence before removing his hand from the table. That gesture alone seemed to put McCoy at ease. He regarded the doctor a moment longer as his guards entered the lab and cuffed his hands together behind him. McCoy had confirmed everything he'd wanted to know, but the knowledge only made him more frustrated when Madelyn was so far outside his reach.

Madelyn slammed her communicator down onto the hard kitchen countertop in Carol's apartment. Her boss Naomi—the head of the English department at the university in London—had just fired her. Their practically one-sided conversation lingered in Madelyn's mind as she ran her fingers around the edges of her communicator, tempted to see if she could damage it in her anger.

Given the photographs that showed up in The Daily Mail over the weekend, your reputation has come into question and as a result the board has decided it wouldn't be appropriate for you to continue teaching at our institution. I know this decision was made rather quickly, but I think it's for the best. The rumors surrounding you, whether they're true or not, could have a severe impact on the image of this school and for the time being there's just no way we can manage your return without it becoming a public affair.

But isn't there some way I could keep my job without it making the news? Why does it have to make the news? she had pressed.

Madelyn, you're already all over the news, Naomi had replied. It would only be a matter of time before the press starts asking questions of the university. You of all people should realize how sensitive this issue has become. I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to let you go.

So there's nothing I can say that will change your mind?

The decision has already been made.

That was the point at which Madelyn promptly hung up.

Naomi hadn't even offered to recommend her to other universities looking for professors. Madelyn had expected a slap on the wrist maybe, or a downgrade back to being a part-time lecturer just for having been away for a whole month, but to have her entire career ripped out from underneath her without so much as a warning? She felt displaced from her body. She felt sick, and she knew it all went back to those damn photographs. If the university was so afraid of tarnishing their image because of her, then how would she be able to find work at any institution of higher learning again? None of London's colleges and certainly no secondary schools would accept her application if this was the case, and given the web of connections between these schools and their partners in other countries, she would probably never be able to find work that fit her standards on the entire planet.

It seemed Admiral Marcus' threat to blackmail her was following her even after he was gone, and the worst part was it had come in the guise of Owen Gallagher. If only Owen had never shown those photos in court in the first place, maybe then none of this would've happened.

She still had options though, even if it meant leaving Earth for one of the Federation's colonies. If she wanted to continue to look for a job on Earth, she could change her identity, her name, her face even, just to get what she wanted, but it wasn't worth trying to hold her career together. It wasn't even about the money—her grandfather had left more than enough behind to last her and her unborn child a lifetime and more. It was about doing what she loved, and inadvertently, Khan had even managed to take that away from her. She wasn't sure what else she had left to lose in the aftermath of this mess, but she knew she couldn't hang around to find out.

Her communicator chimed and she picked it up immediately when she saw Kelly's id.

"I wish you'd called me sooner, Maddy. I've seen the news and I honestly don't know what to say—"

"Kelly, you don't have to say anything."

"I don't even think I believe it. You know how easy it is for photos to be faked. Remember that story last year about the—"

"Kelly!" Madelyn interrupted. "It's complicated, alright?"

"You were dating him for a while though. I remember when you said he'd just disappeared. Why didn't you notice something was off?"

Madelyn sighed. "I never did. At least, not to the extent that I should have, and I think I've learned from that. But listen, I just got off the phone with Naomi. Kelly, she fired me."

"What?! Oh my god, Maddy, that's ridiculous."

"Yeah, well, everything's been a little ridiculous lately. Look, I'm not sure I'll be coming back home to stay. I think I might go off world, start over on a colony."

"What do you mean start over? What are you talking about?"

Madelyn ran her fingers through her scalp. "Like I said, it's complicated."

There was a brief pause on Kelly's end, and Madelyn quickly ran through the last few words she'd said, worried something was wrong. Kelly always had a prompt response for everything.

"Why can't you tell me?" she asked finally. Madelyn gritted her teeth. She couldn't tell Kelly about her pregnancy. Even if she promised to keep it a secret, she would eventually blab about it and inadvertently make everything ten times worse.

"If I felt safe about telling anyone, Kelly, believe me, you'd be the first to know."

There was another long pause.

"So where does that leave us then? When you come home, you won't be staying long?"

"Just long enough to tie up some loose ends and pick up a few things."

"Fine. I'll see you later." Kelly hung up.

Madelyn stared at her communicator for a long moment, the knot in her stomach tightening. Maybe when she returned to London, she'd be able to simply show Kelly her pregnancy and then hightail it out of there, leaving an inevitable bad situation. She would never tell Kelly where she planned to go, but she didn't want to lose her friendship on top of everything else. More than anything, it was clear that she couldn't stay on the planet any longer.

It took her just a few minutes on her PADD to reserve a one-way ticket to Vega IX, a growing Federation colony situated on a prime trade route. She could start a new life there where no one knew who she was, and she could raise her child without worrying about Khan's influence becoming a problem. As soon as she'd packed just enough to carry, and paid McCoy a quick visit, she'd leave.

Rifling through her belongings in the bathroom, she came upon the locket Khan had given her. Her first instinct before the trial had been to throw it out. She didn't want anything to do with him anymore, but the photo set inside it was too precious and too important. She flipped it open to look at it again, smiling faintly at her grandfather's enormous catch hanging from his arm. Now it made sense that he'd been so strong and fearless all his life. He'd known what he was—part Augment, part Human—and he hadn't let it destroy him. Madelyn wasn't going to let this part of her life destroy her either.

She snapped the locket shut and quickly fastened the silver chain around her neck, then wrapped a light scarf around her neck to conceal it. It didn't matter that Khan had given it to her. What mattered was the photograph and what it represented. She was all that was left of the McGivers' legacy, and she wasn't about to throw that away. She'd use her money to start something good on Vega IX, in defiance of what Khan had tried to do to her. She'd turn his manipulation into a tool to be used for real progress, and nothing was going to stop her.

She quickly filled her travel bag with a few choice items, then finished getting dressed, slid on her boots and pulled her hair up out of her face into a ponytail. The apartment door opened as she zipped her bag shut and faint relief rushed over her that she'd get to say goodbye to Carol face to face.

"I was just about to leave," Madelyn said, walking out of her bedroom with her bag in her hand. "You have good timing—"

She froze, her lips parting as she registered Owen's crooked grin. He was standing between her and the only way out of the apartment, dressed in a gray, unmarked uniform, his booted feet firmly planted and his arms crossed over his chest.

"Hey, Maddy."

"What the hell are you doing here?" she replied, taking the handle of her bag in both hands.

"I was hoping you could come with me," he said softly. "There's something I want to show you."

Madelyn scoffed. "I seriously hope you're joking. I'm not going anywhere with you, not after that stunt you pulled in court. I'm leaving town, now please get out of my way."

"It just so happens that I'm leaving town as well. We can go together." He uncrossed his arms and held a hand out towards her. "Come on."

She gawked at him, confused by his behavior. "What the hell, Owen?! Do you even realize what you've done to me?! I just got off the phone with Naomi. She fired me because of those damn photographs!"

Owen barely seemed to hear her. "Don't make me do this."

Madelyn tightened her grip on her bag as he advanced on her, taking a step back. "Owen, get the hell out of my way, or I swear to god—"

He grabbed her arm before she could dodge him, pulling a slender object from his pocket and jabbing it into her neck.

"What the fuck?!"

She dropped her bag in her attempt to fight him, but his hold on her was too strong. Her legs wobbled like the strength was being sapped from her body and Owen caught her before she collapsed. She scrabbled at him, protesting with increasingly slurred words as her consciousness slipped away. As her eyelids were pulled down by the weight of unwanted fatigue, her last coherent thought struck her hard. She'd been unable to fight him off because he was too strong. She'd always been a little stronger than him… so why was he suddenly the strong one?

"Dr. McCoy."

Carol Marcus' intelligent voice rang through the lab. Khan watched as she furiously crutched across the lab, impressed at the state of her healing. Her presence on the Vengeance bridge had been an unfortunate complication and she'd been far too lenient concerning her father's actions for him to leave her unharmed, so he'd attempted to cleanly break her leg just enough to incapacitate her.

"Dr. McCoy, I need to speak with you right now."

The urgency in Carol's voice gave Khan pause when she glanced in his direction and lowered her voice to a faint whisper by McCoy's ear. A moment later, McCoy cursed loudly.

"Dammit, she was supposed to call me before she left. I should've known better than to expect she'd let me keep tabs on her."

Khan was listening extremely intently now. Carol put a hand on McCoy's arm, glancing at Khan nervously again. "Doctor, maybe not here."

"Doesn't matter now, does it? She's on her own now."

"Leonard, listen to me."

McCoy snapped his gaze back to Carol.

"She didn't leave a note, her communicator was on the counter, and her bag was on the floor. Something's not right."

Khan's gaze bored into Carol's skull, his restrained anger reaching a dangerous boiling point. His fingers had curled into a fist under the table. If someone had taken Madelyn, he had little time.

McCoy lowered his voice. "What are you sayin', Carol?"

"I know a way to find her," Khan said, doing his best to keep his voice steady. The two scientists glanced at him simultaneously. He would've felt better if he'd flipped that table on its side and scattered its contents across the room. "But I'll need a secure PADD."

McCoy glanced at Carol, who was staring at Khan like a deer caught in a spotlight. "How do I know you won't just hack into our systems and try to bring down Starfleet all over again?" he said.

"You don't." Khan tilted his head slightly, holding McCoy firmly in his cold gaze. "But Madelyn's life is more important to me than your Starfleet. If you care about her as much as I do, which I doubt, then you will give me a PADD and let me find her."

When McCoy hesitated, Khan sighed.

"Give it to me, doctor, or I will be forced to take it from you."

"Leonard, just give it to him," Carol pressed.

McCoy shook his head slowly as he walked towards Khan and held out his PADD. "God help me," he muttered. Khan took it from him and quickly got to work. Within minutes he'd recalibrated the PADD and pinpointed the location of the chip inside Madelyn's locket. If she was wearing it, then she was almost two hundred miles east of the city, in the mountains. His brow tightened while his mind swarmed with reasons for her relocation, and he could only settle on one again and again. The thought made his upper lip curl.

"She's here," he said, showing the PADD to McCoy. "I suggest you put your best people on this immediately, doctor, for the sake of them both."

Carol's eyes widened but McCoy had already pulled out his communicator. "I don't know who the hell would wanna hurt Madelyn, but I'm not about to let that happen."

"What do you mean 'them both?'" Carol exclaimed. Khan regarded her silently as McCoy ordered a group of security to meet them with a shuttle at a nearby back entrance.

"Alright, I've got people coming," said McCoy, turning to Khan. "What makes you think you're gonna have a part in this? You know Madelyn hates your guts."

"I'm the only one who knows how this works." Khan motioned to the PADD in his hands. "How Madelyn feels about me will make little difference if her life is in danger."

"You think her life is in danger? How the hell could you know?" said Carol.

Khan didn't respond, tired of Marcus' daughter's presence. "Dr. McCoy, if I don't accompany your team, they will never find her."

"You aren't really giving me a choice," came the grumbly reply. "Alright, they're here." He put himself between Khan and the door. "I swear to god if you do anything, I will personally make sure you answer for it."

Khan narrowed his eyes at the doctor. "If Madelyn is harmed when I find her, you can be sure I will. Nothing else matters to me right now." He stepped around McCoy and left the lab, ignoring the guards that normally flanked him. They followed him out of the building and into the waiting shuttle, where he kept his eye on the blinking red dot on the PADD in his hand. So far, it had yet to move, which meant her location would offer him a prime opportunity to escape.

I know I left this on a bit of a cliffhanger, but come on, you know you love it ;) Ok leave a review! xoxo