Thanks to everyone who left reviews (Sloane Raine, Poodle warriors, dancinwmypinkipod, Vintagegirl1912, CLTex, americanlatinajapanesegirl, Lunar678, and All-I-Need) for being consistent and faithful and lovely, unlike myself, who often can't seem to get out of bed in the morning. I'm still fighting a bad case of writer's block, but do not despair. This story will be completed at some point in the next year.

Chapter 42 – Quod Erat Demonstrandum

"Fucking hell!"

Madelyn's coffee mug shattered on the other side of the room. She dug her bunched up fist into the countertop, trying to will away the fury overwhelming her. He was gone so quickly, without warning. And in less than two weeks, if she didn't do something, he'd be out of her reach forever. How could she have left things this way? She breathed through her nose, channeling her anger into the back of her mind. She was the only one who could change this. Every second counted now.

She glanced to the side when her communicator blipped, signaling she had a message. Exhaling long and hard, she snatched it up and looked at the screen. It was from her boss. She hit play.

"Hey, Madelyn, its Nigel. Sorry I missed you. I'm calling because I wanted to inform you that the school board has decided to keep you on through the upcoming autumn to spring term. We still have a full time position open and if you want it, it's all yours. Please let me know if you'd be interested as soon as possible as we'll need to fill the position quickly, before the term begins in September, but you're at the top of the list. I'm looking forward to hearing from you. Hope you're well. Talk to you soon."

She set the communicator down before she thought about throwing it across the room to join the pile of jagged ceramic pieces that remained of her coffee mug. The timing could not have been worse. Why hadn't they contacted her a few days earlier? If she accepted the job, she might have a better future here than she'd anticipated, but she couldn't abandon Khan. He only had a little time left and she was the only one who might be able to make those weeks turn into months… or years.

But if her efforts failed, if the Federation authorities refused to be as forthcoming as Dr. McCoy had made them sound, she wouldn't be at a total loss, and that thought burned.

She circled her fingers around the small green stone that decorated her left hand. That she would even consider moving on from Khan seemed unthinkable now, and yet here was an opportunity to start over doing something she loved, being freely held out to her for the taking.

She worried on her lower lip and picked up her communicator again, quickly dialing McCoy. If she gave Khan up this quickly, she'd never be able to forgive herself. She was engaged to him and he was counting on her, and not just for himself but for seventy-seven others.

"I figured I'd hear from you pretty quick. How ya holdin' up?"

"How soon can I meet with these officials you mentioned?"

There was a momentary pause in which she realized she probably still sounded pissed off. "Uh, not quite sure, but I imagine if you show your face here, things could move more quickly."

Madelyn crossed the kitchen, skirting around the mess of broken ceramic she'd created, and made a beeline for her room. "I can be there in a few hours."

"Alright, I think I can make that work. Call me when you get in town and meet me at my office. I'll try to get some more details before then."

"Ok, good." She pulled a duffle bag out of the closet and almost ended the call right then.

"Sorry you didn't get a heads up. It wasn't my call to make."

"That doesn't matter now, does it," she stated, pulling clothes out of her closet. "I want to see him when I get there."

"I don't know that I can make that happen, Madelyn," he said carefully.

She paused. "Why not?"

"Well, for one, he's not here. He's on the Enterprise. And as far as I'm aware, that's where he's gonna stay until the end of the month."

"Why?"

"You'll hate me for this—"

"Bones, this isn't your fault."

"I could be doin' more," he said, lowering his voice. "But I just don't see how the risk is worth it."

She swallowed away what little optimism she had left. He didn't have a personal investment in this, so why should he? "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have—"

"Nah, it's ok. What I was gonna say is that certain people consider Khan too dangerous to be anywhere but locked up in orbit rather than on the ground around other human beings."

"I thought you said he was going to be put back to work until—"

"Plans changed. Like I said, I don't make these calls. I'm just a doctor."

"Bones, you're more than that and you know it."

He almost sounded resigned. "I'll see ya tonight, Madelyn."

The call ended. She stared at her communicator's darkened screen, frustration welling up inside her again and flooding her with a sense that there was a lot more he wasn't telling her.

Before heading to the airport, she stopped by the college to pick up the test results on the material that Foster had filled a syringe with the night he broke into her house. That was how she was forcing herself to recall the incident now; she couldn't risk accidentally spilling the beans, but more importantly, she couldn't let herself dwell on what she'd done when it was still so fresh in her mind. It was enough to be waking up in a panicked sweat in the middle of the night. She could come to terms with it later, probably with her therapist. For now, the envelope she clutched in her hand would have to suffice.

She glanced over the findings during her flight to San Francisco, but couldn't make heads or tails of it. There was a long list of ingredients, none of them she recognized, and underneath this were multiple diagrams of chemical formulas and molecular structures. There were a few items labeled "unknown" or "data unavailable" but for the most part none of it made any sense. She considered letting Dr. McCoy have a look when she arrived, but decided against it. He'd raise too many questions. She'd have to wait until they let her see Khan.

To her surprise, McCoy was waiting outside the terminal to greet her when she arrived. She went straight for him and gave him a brief but tight hug before he could complain. His familiar cocked eyebrow and perpetual frown made her smile.

"It's good to see you," she said. She noticed the way he hesitated to touch her shoulder too long and quickly kept talking as he showed her to his vehicle waiting across the street. "You don't know how much all of this means to me. Everything you've done up until now—"

"Madelyn, I haven't done shit."

She threw him a look as she climbed into the passenger's seat. "I wouldn't even be here if it wasn't for you."

"There's that," he muttered, turning on the engine and pulling them out into traffic.

She watched him as he drove, silent and frowning hard as ever. "What?" she pressed. "What is it?"

He shook his head, eyes focused on the road in front of them. "Don't worry about it."

"I'm not going to stop pestering you."

She saw his jaw ripple and almost regretted the teasing statement. He glanced at her and then downwards. "He give that to ya?"

She stared at him for a moment, suddenly realizing what he was referring to. She stretched out her fingers a little, the silver band suddenly feeling a little tight. The silence between them thickened. "He asked me to marry him yesterday," she said, eyes wandering away from his face. She wasn't sure if she felt more uncomfortable or just confused. "I couldn't say no."

"Did you wanna say no?"

Her attention lurched back to him. She wanted to scold him or make him feel bad, but she knew there was no point. She was probably the only person in the world who didn't hate Khan. Or at least distrust him.

McCoy glanced at her, his brow softening. "Sorry, I shouldn't have asked."

They drove silently for a while, the amicability between them having vanished. She couldn't stand it. "Bones, why do you think I'm here?"

"Look, I knew you were serious 'bout him, but I didn't think that…" He trailed off, not able to finish.

"You didn't think what?"

"Obviously I didn't know you as well I thought." He shrugged. "Just forget about it. We're here."

Looming skyscrapers blocked out the sun as she hurried across Starfleet's campus beside the doctor. They were headed towards the medical center, but the construction of new buildings all across the city was well under way, making up for the damage Khan had caused almost six months ago.

What McCoy had said—or hadn't said—was bothering her. The more she thought about it, the more she realized he was hurting. She was going to get it out of him, just for his own sake. She couldn't bear to see him like this when the entire reason she was here hinged on her own sanity and ability to make a case. Assuming she ever got to make it.

When they arrived in his office on the top floor, he immediately made a few calls. By the end of them, he declared that she'd be able to meet with a few top officials in three days. That pissed her off all over again.

"I'm here now! Why can't they just send someone up to discuss it?"

McCoy held his hands up in front of him defensively. "They're considerin' this a matter of international security. Three days is an expedited request."

Madelyn scoffed.

"Not my words," he added.

She paced across the room, running her fingers through her scalp. "Three days," she repeated, nodding to herself, letting that sink in. She turned back to him. "You have to get me on the Enterprise before then."

"I can't do that."

"I have to see him, Bones," she pleaded. "We left things on a bad note and it's my fault. I can't go three days with that hanging between us."

He looked at her thoughtfully for a moment, fingers drumming on his desk. "I'm sorry, Madelyn, but I've risked enough of my career dealin' with Khan."

She'd thought he'd be better than this.

"I may be able to send a private communication. That is if you don't mind it fallin' into Jim's hands for a bit."

He was.

"Please," she said, nodding vigorously, a wave of relief flooding over her. She went over and took the PADD he held out to her.

"Write what you want. I'll send it up encrypted tonight, after official com stations go unmanned."

"Thank you," she said quietly, immediately scribbling down a few thoughts. "Now what am I supposed to do here for three days?"

"I could show you around," McCoy replied.

She gave him an odd look, but he was focused on the screen of his PADD. "Are you sure you'd be ok with that?"

"Don't worry about me."

She nodded slowly, realizing she hadn't expected him to handle this the way he was.

"You hungry?" he said, glancing up from his work. "There's a great pizza joint a few blocks from here. They've got one with Cardassian olives and fresh anchovies. Surprisingly good. And if we sit outside, you can get a great view of the bay,"

"Yeah, that sounds great," she replied. She hadn't even given a thought to her grumbling stomach, but suddenly her mouth was watering.

"And bring that PADD. You can write your message while we eat."

Three days passed. Madelyn knew enough about San Francisco to know McCoy was absolutely in love with it, and she understood why. He didn't have much else to love when he wasn't on the Enterprise. She wasn't going to broach the topic like she'd planned. He seemed to have forgotten, or moved on, or maybe he was just emotionally mature enough to realize he'd made a mistake. Whatever the case was, she was grateful to have him as a friend.

She was told Khan received her message, but as long as he was in the Enterprise's brig he wouldn't be allowed access to a PADD with which to respond. She could only hope he understood where she was coming from, since she'd written in painstaking detail exactly where she was coming from and why she had disagreed with him. In the meantime, she had enough on her mind to distract her from their lingering disagreement.

She'd given McCoy the test results from Foster's syringe, though she never actually explained why or where they'd come from, but the doctor had looked suspicious enough. She lingered in his lab as he ran through the results, eyes flitting back and forth down the list of ingredients silently, until she could feel her impatience growing. When he finally looked up from his tablet, his brow was furrowed and wrinkled.

"The combination of these elements suggests this is some sort of anesthetic, or a strong tranquilizer. I've never seen anything like it before, and a few of these elements are beyond me. Whoever created this knew exactly what they were doing, and the result was something new. You don't mind if I show this to some of my colleagues, do ya?"

She shrugged. "Not at all."

"Where's the original source material?"

"A college in Hastings, England."

"I meant where did you get it originally?"

She hesitated. "It's a long story." At the look she received, she considered caving and telling him anyway. Instead, she compromised. "I can bet you whoever created it had a connection to Joaquin Weiss."

McCoy's eyebrow sharpened. "An Augment?"

"Maybe, or maybe a mad scientist."

He nodded and returned his gaze to the results that he was plugging into his PADD. "There're a couple things here that bother me though, specifically some o' the side effects that can be caused by this particular combination of elements. Ya see here?" He pointed at one of the diagrams but Madelyn could only nod silently, looking up at him with growing concern. "This ain't something doctors who practice safe and decent medicine would use."

"What kind of side effects?"

"Well, if this is an anesthetic and it's used on a human being, obviously we've got a whole cocktail of migraines, dizziness, and nausea, but hypothetically speaking things can get a lot worse too. Loss of vision, hearing, and motor skills due to minor brain damage. There are also some potentially carcinogenic properties, and if, again hypothetically, the patient is pregnant, the chances of birth defects and miscarriage skyrocket."

For a moment, Madelyn could think of nothing else but every single instance in which she had been attacked or injected with something that resulted in her waking up somewhere else and feeling like she had a massive hangover. The first time, in Trafalgar Square by Dr. Foster. The second time, on the Vengeance by Admiral Marcus' people. The third time, in Carol's San Francisco apartment by Owen.

Only one of those times had been by people not colluding with Joaquin, and of the remainder…

What if her miscarriage had been caused by something other than Owen's mindless brutality? What if Owen wasn't even directly responsible. Sure, he'd injected her in order to knock her out and kidnap her, but he wouldn't have known what it might do to her. He hadn't even known she was pregnant.

"You sure you don't wanna tell me where you got this stuff?" McCoy asked, butting into her thoughts.

She gathered her bag from the table nearby. "I need to get some air. I'll meet you tonight for dinner."

She was out the door before she could hear his disgruntled response. All of this was mental conjecture and all of it might be false. But she couldn't shake it. Foster had worked for Joaquin, who had turned Owen into a monster. The connection couldn't be ignored.

She knew a normal anesthetic would never work on her. Augments were twice as hard to sedate. Khan had required something equivalent to horse tranquilizer, as she recalled McCoy's comments from months ago. Whatever Foster's intentions for her had been, she knew the only way he would have been able to get away with it would have been through the use of this drug. And if her symptoms following the Trafalgar scare had been any indication…

She shuddered and tightened her arms over her chest as a breeze rustled around her. Joaquin had been working behind the scenes for a long time. She had no reason to believe he wouldn't do something like this. He hadn't known the dynamic that existed between her and Khan, nor had he fully understood what had driven Khan following her kidnapping. At the time neither had she. For all Joaquin had known, her miscarriage should have driven Khan to dispose of her and go rogue again, providing Joaquin with a prime opportunity to swoop in and take control. The possibilities whirling through her mind distracted her so deeply that she didn't notice when a familiar glowing face framed by a blond bob stepped into her path and promptly grabbed her shoulder.

"Maddy! I didn't know you were in town!" Carol's crisp, intelligent voice snatched her back to the present. "It's good to see you."

Madelyn finally managed to meet her friend's warm gaze and let a smile materialize on her lips. "It has been a while, hasn't it?"

"It has! Jim told me what happened back in April. I'm so sorry about everything."

But has he updated her on the latest? Madelyn wondered. "Thanks, Carol. Jim?"

Carol's cheeks turned a faint shade of pink. "Captain Kirk." She made a face. "It's odd referring to him that way. We've been seeing each other for a couple months now."

Madelyn raised her eyebrows, though she wasn't surprised.

"So what are you doing in San Francisco anyway? I thought you'd settled in back home."

"I have some things I need to take care of here," she replied. She swallowed then, realizing that saying anything else would give her away.

Carol lowered her voice. "Is this about Khan? What has he done this time?"

The frank glare of raw sympathy in Carol's eyes suddenly made Madelyn realize this wasn't going how she'd hoped it would. "Starfleet is returning him to cryostasis in a couple weeks."

"Oh!"

Madelyn nodded. "I came here to keep that from happening." There was nothing more liberating than to have the truth tumbling out of her mouth.

Carol's gaze flitted over her, as though she could find an answer just by looking at her exterior. When she didn't, she shook her head faintly, her hair swishing around her jaw. "Why? After all he's done, why would you want to do that?" She put a hand on Madelyn's arm.

Madelyn clamped the inside of her lip between her teeth. There were so many things she could say. So many ways to explain what she was feeling and why she was doing what she was doing. Her thumb traced the cool metal around her ring finger.

"I love him."

Carol's gaze retreated with her amicable expression and the hand on her arm.

"I know you don't understand and I'm not expecting you to, but I love him and I'm going to do everything I can to help him."

Silence settled between them again like an unwanted guest, letting itself into their conversation and making itself comfortable.

"Do you really?" Carol ventured carefully, her voice small.

"Like I said, I'm not expecting you to understand—"

"Good, because I don't."

Madelyn rolled her lips together amidst the thick silence.

"I don't understand why you would go back to him." Carol swallowed, as though stifling something. "He's a murderer, Maddy." Stifling emotion.

She wanted to reach out and pull Carol back. She could feel her slipping away already. She could explain. She could go into the details, tell Carol everything that had transpired in Hastings. There was so much to tell her. "I can tell you everything," she verbalized quickly. "I want to tell you everything."

Blond locks swayed gently, carefully manicured fingers adjusted a shoulder strap with fidgeting motions. "I don't want to know. Whatever it is…" she trailed off, trying to hold her gaze, mouth open and wordless.

She could apologize. The urge was growing stronger with each passing second that Carol remained tongue-tied. Her blue eyes glistened.

"I hope you'll be happy, whatever happens," Carol said finally. "I need to go."

A ghost of a smile, and then she turned and hurried down the sidewalk, clutching her bag against her shoulder. There was nothing Madelyn could say that would make her stop.

The conference room was windowless and tucked away beneath the Daystrom building where no one was watching. When she walked inside, Madelyn suddenly felt like she was back on trial. It was a meeting smaller than she'd hoped for: three Starfleet admirals and one Federation lawyer. Four sets of privileged, judgmental eyes tearing her apart while she tried to convince them that everyone would be better off if Khan and his people were set free.

She recognized two of the admirals from Khan's trial: Georgia Rescher, a thick-skinned woman with bluntly cut auburn hair, and Robert Bennett, whose graying hair and drooping eyes made him look older than he probably he was. The third, a Vulcan, she didn't recognize. He appeared to be younger than Bennett, but he held himself with a certain composed regality that made her wonder if he was. The lawyer introduced himself as Sam Cogley. He was a dark skinned man with a careful, intelligent gaze and a friendly countenance. He was also the first to pose questions.

Madelyn made it clear that she was partially looking out for herself, and included every single adverse thing that had happened to her since Khan's trial, leaving out the part, of course, where she killed a Starfleet Commander, and later a former Starfleet science officer. The official stories, the ones that hit the media, the one where Owen was kidnapped and killed by rogue Augments, the one where Foster had broken into her house and she'd killed him in self-defense, those were the only lies she clung to.

"The important thing to remember here is that you all have control over Khan's life, and over the lives of seventy-seven other people. None of them asked to be used the way they have. All I'm asking is that you rid yourself of this burden by putting them outside your jurisdiction. They can fend for themselves and you never have to worry that they'll become a threat to you again, because if they have their own planet, they'll be too busy fighting amongst themselves to worry about taking over another one."

She tried not to look too hopeful when she was finished. Even that last bit was as close to the truth as she dared to go, as she recalled Khan's comments about "divisions within his ranks." At this point, that fact only served to prop up her argument further, however much she hated to think about it.

The lawyer, Cogley, tapped his fingers on the table. He appeared to be waiting for the admirals to speak, but they were talking amongst themselves, quietly enough that she couldn't hear what they were saying.

"Ms. McGivers, is it true that Mr. Singh specifically requested you convene this meeting with us?"

She focused her attention on the lawyer. "No, it was my idea."

He jotted something down on his PADD. "I'm a little confused. You're trying to save the life of a man whom you previously testified, in a court of law, had lied to you and manipulated you. Granted that was several months ago, but this leads me to believe that he has further manipulated you into assisting him."

The admirals across from her had fallen silent and were fixed on her again. She straightened in her seat. "That is very far from the truth," she said. "As you know, I've spent enough time with him to know when I'm being manipulated. In this instance, he did not manipulate or coerce me and if he ever thought of trying, I would have caught on quickly. As I've just described, he offered me a choice when he visited me in my home last week. In the end, I chose him."

"Would you say you and Mr. Singh are once again romantically involved?"

She settled her left hand on the table top, letting her ring tap against the glass. "Yes, we are."

She hoped they'd notice. There was no reason to verbalize it as it was really quite obvious, and if she was going to have to play that role then she would. She saw their eyes flit downwards and then back to her face. More than one pair of eyebrows rose.

"You're an historian, Ms. McGivers. You're aware of the damage Mr. Singh wrought on countless—"

"Mr. Singh may have wrought some damage, as you put it, but many of his counterparts were far worse." It was weird to be referring to him that way. She decided she didn't like it. "However, history is written by the victorious, and you are all aware that in the end Khan did not win."

Cogley leaned back in his chair, smiling faintly while the admirals muttered to each other again. She caught something affirmative in their tones and waited. Finally, Admiral Bennett leaned forward.

"We've read over the memo transcribed by Dr. Leonard McCoy. He was the first to come to us with this proposition. He seemed to think your case was valid, but I must admit, we all have our doubts."

Madelyn fought to remain calm in her chair. "These are human beings we're talking about. Yes, I know they're Augments. Technically, their existence is illegal." She took a breath. "And so is mine, if you've read my records," she added.

Bennett nodded. "We have. We know what you are but it doesn't concern us. What concerns us is what you're asking us to do."

"I'm not asking you to release them here. I feel like I'm repeating myself. I want them to be given a new home, somewhere Starfleet won't have to worry about them."

"And you'd be going with them."

She ground her teeth. "This isn't about me, sir."

Cogley cut in. "She's right. This isn't about her. This is about seventy-eight superhumans, created to be weapons. We've all seen the damage one can do."

She bit her tongue to keep from retorting with something she'd regret. She had to remain as neutral as possible, despite the fact that she'd already revealed where her true loyalties lay.

"But we've also seen the progress the work of one can promote. Perhaps exile is preferable to perpetual cryostasis."

Bennett grunted. "Only if it means we don't have to be responsible for whatever happens to them. No contact whatsoever. No aide, no diplomacy. We act as though they don't exist."

Cogley nodded and jotted something else down on his PADD. Madelyn dug her nails into the arms of her chair, still waiting for some sort of affirmation.

Admiral Rescher, who'd been silent for most of the meeting, except to mutter things into the ear of her Vulcan counterpart, settled an elbow on the table. "If we allow the Augments to exist on a planet not controlled by the Federation, and you choose to accompany them, you will forfeit your Earth citizenship. All of your assets will be seized and you will not have a means of returning to Earth. In essence, you will be resigning yourself to whatever fate Khan and his people create for themselves."

Madelyn let Rescher's words sink in for a moment. She would have a lot of decisions to make, and she was well aware of the fact. But "resigning" herself to a new life with Khan suddenly seemed preferable to continuing to live without him on a planet where her name was seen side by side in the news with words like "slut" and "terrorist."

"I understand, Admiral," she replied.

Rescher nodded and glanced at the Vulcan.

"If we are all in agreement, then this meeting is adjourned," said Bennett.

That was it? Less than an hour, and they'd made their decision?

"You'll be hearing from us shortly, Ms. McGivers," said Cogley, looking up from his PADD. "Thanks for being willing to talk to us."

Without another word, the four of them stood from the table and left the room, leaving her there in a daze.

McCoy appeared in the open doorway a moment later, and she could only smile at him, barely able to contain her excitement. She stood up from the table and zeroed in on him.

"You have to let me see him."

McCoy made an acquiescent face and nodded faintly. "I'll see what I can do."