Apologies for the wait. I've been super busy, which hasn't lent much time to writing….But, this chapter is rather lengthy! Hopefully that shall make up for my tardiness.

I've gotten some really interesting theories as to where this is headed. All I can say is, it's gonna be twisty.

-XXX-

He finds them quickly. The coordinates were exact. A basement warehouse, on a small base in Somalia. The rows and rows slowly come into view as the lights flicker into focus. He's breathless at the sight.

In under three hours, two are revived, then another three, seven, and within twelve hours, everyone is awake. They're silent, for the most part, quietly embracing and reconnecting with loved one. Everyone is well.

They are grateful. He moves about, touching each in turn, accepting smiles, brief hugs, words of kindness, and offering them in return.

He had been informed of the likelihood of ships being available for the taking in one of the hangers. Though the group is weary, he knows that they must leave, and soon. Each hour he spends on Terra is another hour given to Starfleet to find him. With the upmost caution, he leads a small party upwards to find a suitable ship.

The office overlooking the hanger is occupied. He sends two up to take care of its occupant. He, along with another, moves to one of the aircrafts. It's a large, charter-class vehicle, a shuttle, perfect for their group of seventy-three. Outfitted with three replicators, three bikes and one off-road hauling vehicle, it had all of bells and whistles that would make transitioning to an uninhabited planet a little easier. It would not fit everyone too comfortably, but it would get them to Cylfax, and then benefit them long after this trip.

Assuming the captain's chair, he orders Mical to start the engines. By now, the two he'd sent to the office – Alik and Shusaun – had boarded. He does not ask if the problem has been resolved. It most certainly has.

The others meet them just outside of the warehouse. Soon, they too have boarded. They, they're beyond the ground, the atmosphere, the earth.

He can scarcely believe that he is with them again. He is with his family again. The moment he's been dreaming of….

As he sets the coordinates for Cylfax Khan feels a heat rise to his heart. He thinks it might just be hope.

-XXX-

They reach the clearing. He's surprised to find the fire is out and the Alya is no where to be seen. He has no doubt that she's around there somewhere – she wouldn't run. She couldn't. But when he approached fire to feel the coals, they're cold.

"My prince?" one of his fellows asks.

Khan looks up from where he's crouched before the fire pit. Malik's head is tilted with curiosity.

"Is she here? The human?"

"…no," he says slowly. "She is not. Did they find the shuttle?"

"No, my prince."

Khan's fists tighten. "Find her."

-XXX-

It takes only a few hours for him to reach the conclusion that Alya is gone. She's well and truly gone. She took the shuttle and somehow managed to make it off the planet.

He is impressed, to some extend. Though, more frustrated than anything. He should not have been so foolish as to assume they'd reached any kind of truce, that he was safe to leave the shuttle unguarded. She had been angry, yes, but he'd not thought that she would be that irrational as to try to leave. How could she have thought she would safe from him?

While Khan loathes to leave his family behind so soon after being reunited, he needs to go for her. She cannot get back to Terra – to Starfleet. While he has no doubt that Alya would wish to distance herself from the organization. But that didn't mean they would not seek her out. He has to find her. Soon.

-XXX-

Alone, the ship is nearly eerie. He's tired, for the first time in a long time, so the silence is amplified. It always seems the sensation of weakness – a rare one – puts feeling upon him so heavily. In his weariness, Khan sits dully in the captain's chair, staring out at the sparkling black view. The day has been long. No – his life has been long. Up until a few hours ago he had been secure in his new life, in his freedom, for the first time in over three centuries. It had been a good feeling.

He encounters the Enterprise several hours out. He stands to cross to the viewing deck, eyes narrowing.

They're drifting near the outer edge of the Karplesian Quadrant. Drifting, which is curious to him. They should not be out at all – the repairs had only just finished, yet they were not, to his knowledge, scheduled to leave Terra for several more months. Which leads him to the sole conclusion that Starfleet has come for him.

But they do not move. They do not move at all. They're in wait, clearly. Which gives him the perfect opportunity to scan the ship. If he is lucky, the Enterprise will have left Earth without being fully function – some corners cut, at the very least, considering this early deployment.

In his scan he's given a surprise; a familiar little shuttle, parked in the bay. The very shuttle he took earlier in the week to Cylfax. The shuttle he's been searching for over the course of the last day.

It does not take him anytime to connect the dots. Alya is aboard. Alya has been capture. Alya is being held by Starfleet on the very ship he loathes, held likely by the very crew that brought him to his demise. Alya is on the Enterprise with Kirk and Spock and the drunken doctor and the Scottish ninny and there is no way he'll ever get on to the ship unnoticed.

She is alone. The stupid girl tried to leave and was caught, and now she is alone. She will be questioned and then maybe, just maybe, sent back home to a life of research and musty books, never again to be troubled with the one named Khan Noonien Singh. Not to have her thoughts haunted with him. Never to fear or miss or hate or care for again.

For they would find him. Should she break, their peace shall be shattered. Cylfax will no longer be their paradise – it shall be their grave.

She belongs with him. If not for the simply sake of wanting her, then for the safety of his family.

His very chest aches with these thoughts.

He needs to get aboard.

"I must."

"But how?" he answers back almost automatically. "Their shields? But how? But how?"

He is mocking himself. Frustrated, he slams the console with unkind fists. The resulting crunch does little to relive him. Below, on the now-cracked screen, the words jumble, then recollect neatly.

"Scramble." The idea hits him like a bag of bricks. He could scramble their systems, make the shield think it's up yet cast it off, giving himself a chance to beam aboard. If the Enterprise remains in this drifting state it would be easy. Once on board he could simply sink their system from inside, giving himself enough time to beam them both back. Provided they do not get caught or his ship detected before he managed to retrieve Alya, the plan could be reasonably viable.

"Odds shall be in my favor. Even if I must sway them to be."

He already knows the ship. Knows the system. It shall take him less than thirty minutes to disable the shield – though, once he does it shall only last ten minutes. Not nearly enough time to find Alya. If he had a more approximate idea of her location, it would be simpler….but he cannot the gamble of wagering her to be in the holdings bay. Realistically, she could be anywhere. He does not know how Starfleet took her – to be a victim to aid, or a foe to hold warily at an arm's length. If they were wise, it should be the former.

With that, he sets to work. Despite the distance, he can easily transmit a frequency that will "persuade" the other ship to refocus shields. The next trick is setting up the transporter's coordinates, to ensure that he lands safely hidden on the Enterprise and an open port on his end, so that he can return with Alya in tow.

In the hour he is ready.

It is uncomfortable, leaving the ship unattended, with no one to beam him back and no one to make sure she stays hidden. But he leaves nonetheless, figuring it is far better to risk the ship than his family's safety.

He is transported to a dimly lit supply room. It takes his eyes a moment to adjust, but when they do he can make out cleaning supplies. After disentangling himself from a mop, Khan exits quietly, slipping down the hall. There is not a soul about, leading him to guess that he is on one of the residential decks – people rarely linger about these halls, and no one is rushing around on business matters.

He first locates engineering. To his great luck, it's lunchtime. One ensign is at the post, boredly looking through a set of diagrams. Khan slips past entirely unnoticed. While it would be faster to kill the ensign, he cannot risk alerting the bridge to his presence just yet. Once his work is done, he soundlessly moves back into the corridor.

On to the lifts, he is struck with another idea. He pauses the contraption, calling the bridge from the keypad.

"Bridge," someone answers shortly.

"I was ordered to take Dr. Nejem a collection of papers," Khan answers swiftly, voice pitched above his normal range. "But the captain did not tell me where I might find her."

There is a distinct frown in the operator's voice. "She ought to be in the med bay, Bone's orders. But you shouldn't be calling the bridge for matters like this –"

He disconnects, pounding the button ruthlessly. "Medical bay," he barks at the computer.

-XXX-

I'm picking my way through lunch when the double doors to the general examination area slide open. Assuming it to be Leonard, I keep my gaze on my tray, poking a few peas with my fork. Replicated fare, a balanced and healthy meal of some kind of chicken in gravy, mashed potatoes in the same gravy, peas, and peach slices, served with milk. I'd made a face when the nurse set the tray before me.

"It's the same as what they're getting in the dining hall," Bones warned. He was again checking my vitals, still not completely certain I wasn't about to go into shock.

"Between this and the scratchy clothes, I'm getting the full hospital experience," I retorted dryly. "Truly, it's full emersion."

"No need to get snarky," he said, waving his scanner at me. "You're in my charge until you're found to be fit –"

"—and not guilty of fraternizing with the enemy? I think we both know it's too late for that."

Leonard scowls. "Whatever you think, Captain Kirk is on your side, Alya."

"If anything, I think he's put you on babysitting duty." I sigh, sinking back into the pillows. "Leo, I highly doubt your crew has much faith in me. And I can hardly blame them."

He took up my hand from where it lay on the mattress. "You've a victim here, Alya. We all know that. You were taken advantage of."

I can't bring myself to agree. He leaves for lunch, taking the nurse with him. I'm told to use the comm if necessary, and that the doors will be locked. So I settle into my own pathetic lunch.

I was thinking about home when the doors opened. Wondering when the Enterprise would see fit to return to Terra. When I might be released from Starfleet custody, and allowed to return to my citizen life. Things seem less hopeless now, to some extent. Day-to-day life might become a little more mundane, but I am prepared for the peacefulness it might bring. Regularity is just something I need right now. After this last year -

Outside the door to my unit there is a brush of movement. Seeing at it is likely Bones or one of his nurses, I do not pay it much mind. That is, until it nears, and I am forced to look up from the pyramid of peas that I am building to see who, exactly, has intruded upon my peace.

Separated by a thin wall of glass, Khan Noonien Singh stares straight at me, as though I am the sun herself. Equally stunned, I look straight back.

Then he moves. Suddenly the glass is gone – struck by a quick and merciless blow, causing a tingle as a shower of sharp crystals rain down towards me. I yelp as they fall on the oatmeal-colored blanket, pressing myself back. The Augment advances.

"What the hell are you doing here?" I hiss as his hands capture my wrists. I'm being hauled from the bed against my will, and I wiggle in a useless attempt to free myself.

"Retrieving you," he answers shortly. "Though I might ask you the same. I was under the impression you were planning to stay and wait for my return."

"Well, you impressed wrong," I snap. "I can't walk, you idiot, I'll cut my feet. No shoes!"

He frowns. "Where are your clothes?"

"Confiscated, what do you think?!"

It does not take him long to decide the best course of action to take. "I'll carry you."

That's given for my benefit, as he's already lifting by the time the words are spoke.

"Oh no, I'm not going," I protest in a whisper. "I'm not going anywhere with you, I'm going to stay here, and they're going to take me home and -"

His arms loosen dangerously, faking a near drop that causes me to wrap myself around his neck. "If you're so intent on staying, why are you whispering?"

He's got me there. "I – I don't want you to get caught," I admit. "I've already done all that I can to make sure you're not to be found, coming back here probably screws that completely up. The least you can do get out before anyone sees you."

"I'm not leaving without you."

"For god's sake, what's the point?" I groan. "I'm not going to give you away. Go."

He sets me back on the bed, crouching to meet my eyes. Levelly, he speaks. "You can either say here and face court martial and further trials when you get back and a mundane and dull life among your books and research, or you may join me in my efforts to reestablish my people on a world untainted by Starfleet or politics or any of the other petty troubles that are currently being inflicted upon your race. I came back for you. Return with them and you'll be under a microscope for the rest of your days. So unless you wish to make a more compelling argument, you are coming with me, Alya. "

"I am not –"

"And so help me, I will not let you from my sight again," he growls, face nearing mine. His breath is hot on my lips, nose brushing the tip of my nose. I recoil, only to find a hand at the back of my neck holding me in place. "Fight if you will, but you are coming home."

I open my mouth in protest, only to be stopped when I am scooped back up into his arms, and carried out of the infirmary like a child. I gasp, loudly, and scramble to right myself. However, my wiggling body does nothing to deter his stride. He goes on, taking us through the labyrinth in the ship's deep belly. Maybe it's his pace, maybe it's the turns, or possibly the Medbay food, but my stomach curls unpleasantly the further and further we go.

We round a corner, and there is a young security officer. Her eyes grow wide, mouth opening, but she doesn't stand a chance. Khan has somehow procured a phaser, and it's out swiftly. She downed in less than five seconds. I scream. Against his chest, Khan shakes me roughly. "Quiet."

"Why would you do that?" I shriek. "She wasn't even –"

"Silence! She's only been stunned," he says, disgusted with my reaction. "In a few minutes she will be fine."

This gives me little comfort.

Eventually, we reach his goal destination; the transporter room. Once the door is closed, he sets me down. Turning back to the door, Khan tears off the wall panel, ripping out wires. The door is effectively locked.

He swings back 'round towards me. I have backed away, creating as much distance as possible. In a flash he's at me again. Hands wrap around my wrist. "We're leaving."

"So soon, Mr. Singh?" a voice calls from the wall comm unit. We are both given pause.

Kirk, Spock, and the rest of the bridge are watching us, expressions ranging from horror to loathing. Leonard is standing next to Kirk, opposite of the Vulcan. He looks ready to explode, eyes glued to me. In the background, Uhura glowers.

"You only just arrived," Kirk continues. "We'd hate to see you go so soon."

"Captain." Khan's voice is perfectly calm, charmed even, as though he's utterly delighted by this intrusion of his escape. "It has not been long enough."

"No, it has not," the captain agrees. "So, what brings you to my ship? Clearly you've very intent on seeing our Dr. Nejem. We only just managed to bring her into our company, Mr. Singh, we'd appreciate it if you'd be a little more generous with her. Say, let her go. Come back to the bridge."

"And I can remain here to peacefully accept being taken into your custody?" Khan's expression remains impassive, his lips only twisting a fraction of an inch. "Ah, I am not too keen on that plan. Let's see, how about you lower your shields, allow Alya and myself to transport off of the Enterprise, and then be about your merry way?"

"I doubt will shall ever meet a compromise, Captain," Spock says levelly. "My recommendation would be to send a security down to the transport level and remove both Dr. Nejem and Khan to be place in the holdings bay."

Khan's grip on my increases, popping my wrist unpleasantly. I flinch, but he does not notice.

"The holdings bay?" Kirk looks at Spock briefly, then turns back to us. "Your old room, Mr. Singh."

"I think not," Khan answers coldly. "No, I think what I'll do is disable your impulse engines." He pulls from his great coat a small silver remote. I'm not sure what it means, exactly, but the Enterprise's crew all gawks. "You see, before I sought out Dr. Nejem, I took the liberty of visiting your engine room. Such lax security, Mr. Spock." The Augment clicks his tongue disapprovingly. "If I should care to, I'll click this button –" He casually indicates a small black button on the face of the remote. "—then four charges will obliterate two of your impulse engines."

I can tell by the looks on all of the Enterprise's crew that this is far from a good thing. Kirk is especially stricken.

After a beat, he asks quietly, "What do you want?"

A smile slides onto Khan's features. "I want your shields lowered. I want to be allowed to transport off of this ship without any hint of a track upon us, and I want you remain here for a full twenty-four hours."

Kirk hesitates. For a long time, he hesitates. I can see that his crew is equally conflicted – thinking, perhaps, that there simply must be another way. But they all come to the same conclusion – there isn't.

"Are those terms agreeable to you, Captain?" Khan asks after several long seconds of silence.

Fists curling against the arms of his chair, Kirk says heavily, "Yes. Sulu…lower shields."

The men share one final look of understanding. Kirk is not defeated, but rather, seems to be energized, fueled by anger. Khan, on the other hand, is boldly triumphant.

"Thank you, Captain," he allows, almost cheerful.

At that, Khan spins on his heels, approaching the transporter console. He swiftly types out settings, while disabling the track system. Once he has finished he looks to me – I've stood aimlessly in the background since his interaction with Kirk began. Wordlessly, he takes my hand, leading me to the transporter.

"Hold onto me," he orders. I don't think twice before obeying. Soon, the bright light surrounds us, claiming my vision until it fades, and all is darkness.

-XXX-

We're on the bridge of a ship. Not being well-versed in ships, I cannot say what kind, only that it's likely smaller and older than anything I've been on before, except possibly the shuttle that had brought us to Cylfax. As soon as we're stable, Khan releases me to head for the console. I hang back shivering in my itchy replicated grey sweat-things.

"Please don't," I say from my corner.

Khan doesn't both looking back. "We're leaving."

"No, don't…don't do it. Don't blow it up, please, don't, Khan." I'm tearful, moving forward. My pleas are soft, but sincere. "I won't run again, I'lll never try, just please…don't."

He turns back, brow furrowed. "I'll keep my word, Alya. Though, should they follow us –"

Relieved, I shrink back, silent. As long as Kirk keeps his head, everyone will walk away with their life intact. That is, for the moment, all that I can ask for.

He applies coordinates, and we're moving. I don't even bother asking where. After checking a few other monitors, the Augment returns his focus to me.

-XXX-

She distressed. "As she ought to be." But it's not wants her scared. He wants her to anticipate his fury, to be ready to accept the heat of his rage. He approaches, stalks as a leopard would near a cornered deer. As though realizing the nature of her position, she twists so that her back is to a doorway. It is useless.

"I believe I specifically told you to stay put," he begins, voice deadly in its quietness.

"And I'm fairly certain I told you the moment I had the opportunity I would strike out for Terra," she replies, tone matching his, though her volume is far greater. Bright tears are still reflected in her angry eyes. "It seems we were both quite clear in our intentions."

The Augment's lips purse. "And I said I would find you, regardless," he rumbles. "You were foolish."

"Seeing as you were the one to kidnap me, I don't know if we can really peg me as the fool here," she says.

"You were caught by Starfleet," he says sharply. "So I believe we can. You put yourself, the Enterprise, my family, and myself at risk. You nearly killed everyone on that ship."

"Let's get this straight." She's furious now, more so than scared. "If anything happened to that ship it would not be my doing. It would be yours. Entirely your decision."

"A decision I would not have to make had someone obeyed."

"I am not a dog," she hisses. "I won't simply stay –"

"You are a part of mine."

"You can't just claim me," Alya cries, throwing hands up in frustration. "That is not how the universe works, Khan, maybe things were different three hundred years ago. But not today."

Hands on her shoulders, he steadies her, drawing her focus. "Alya. I want you to be a part of my family."

With dark eyes, the anthropologist looked up at him blankly, lips slightly parted. Unable to resist the temptation, he lightly kisses her, cupping her face. To better reach him she rises to tip-toes. Against her lips, he smiles. Neither of their heat has evaporated, but rather, been set aside for the moment. He is, after all, pleased to see her. Whole and hale. He could wish for little else.

One hand runs through his hair, finger nails scraping his scalp. The touch sends sensations down his spine. Nosing her cheek, he shudders against her. Wordless, he leads them to the captains chair, sitting, then pulling Alya onto his lap. With a sigh, she tucks her head into the crook of his chest, where his neck and shoulders met. Lacing fingers, she sighed contentedly. "I'm still angry. Horribly angry. Furious."

He inhales slowly, squeezing her close. "I'm glad to have found you," he says into her hair.

She does not answer right away. It is not until several minutes have passed, and he's nearly certain she is asleep, when the anthropologist breathes quietly, "Me too."

-XXX-

Thoughts? I know it seemed rather fast, but we've still got quite a bit to cover.

Reviews would be lovely!