Love Conquers All

Victoria winced as she crawled through the small tunnel that led to the Warp Core, panting as she tried to breathe through what felt like a pressure on her chest making it difficult. It was the radiation, she knew, the entire room was steeped in it. She closed her eyes for only a moment, steeling herself, before she pushed herself on, climbing through the room and staring up at the housings for the core. It was even more damaged than she thought it was and that worried her. She looked down at her hand, knowing it would be next to useless, she could barely open her fingers without a shooting pain racing up her arm. She needed to stop doing that, punching people like that…or she needed to see about getting some sort of metal gauntlet to help her.

She shook her head and started to climb up to the device, not having time to think about that or even joke about it. She swallowed hard, realizing she was likely not going to have time to joke about anything again after this. It would be a miracle if she could drag herself back to the door she'd climbed through, sealing the Core behind her so that they could at least reclaim her body.

That was…an odd thought, to consider her body after she inevitably died of radiation poisoning. And she wasn't sure what that said about her entire mental state that she wasn't more alarmed or freaking about how the thought she was truly about to die. This wasn't one of those situations where she could hope Kirk or Spock or Bones would swoop in and help her, each of them had done just that in the past at one point or another, no…this was…different. This was finite. Just entering the room had poisoned her system, damaged her cells, it had begun a process that WAS going to kill her, she knew it, she'd studied Warp Cores extensively in the engineering program, she knew exactly what she was walking into when she'd knocked out Kirk to go in instead.

It SHOULD be her, she couldn't help but think, it should be her and not just because she was in engineering and she knew what to do to get the core back aligned. It was because this was her fault. All of it.

It was her fault.

If she'd just…if SHE had gone with Sulu instead of Uhura or Spock she could have made sure that the shuttle didn't hover over the volcano like it had. She had been the one who had offered to go into the volcano, since she (and Scotty) had built the cold fusion device in the first place. It had all been set for her to be on the shuttle…till Kirk found out about it and decided Spock, who was supposed to remain on the ship as Captain, should go instead, since he was Vulcan and better able to handle the heat. If she'd been there, the shuttle wouldn't have hovered, it would have lasted long enough to get in and out of the volcano, and none of the inhabitants of Nibiru would have seen them, Spock wouldn't have filed a report, and they wouldn't have all been shifted around, her father wouldn't have been called to Daystrom.

If her father hadn't been in Daystrom, he wouldn't have died, she wouldn't have felt such overwhelming, blinding anger. She wouldn't have been so hurt, she wouldn't have wanted to hunt down Khan the way she had, she would have stopped Kirk from doing the same. She would have been more rational, less murderous, she would have had a clearer head and…she would have fought back against Kirk in a few of his decisions. She wouldn't have let the torpedoes onto the Enterprise, she'd have agreed with Scotty, they'd have cracked one open first before they even left the system…

So much could have been avoided if she'd just…thought things through. She would have given the warp drive and the engines a proper look through before they even took off! It was the Liaison's duty to inspect the engines and engineering before they went on missions like this, but she hadn't, and Kirk had allowed it, and without Scotty there to remind anyone no one had thought to make her. She would have found the leak in her scans of the ship. They could have fixed it, gotten Khan, and gotten him back to Earth without issue…they would never have gotten caught by the Vengeance until it was too late for Marcus to do anything.

This really was…her entire fault.

If Kirk and her hadn't been in the relationship they were, he wouldn't have felt twice the amount of drive to get Khan. He wanted to avenge his captain, but equally he wanted to avenge her and her father. And she'd fueled it, it had taken SPOCK of all people to get through to him, to get one of them clearheaded. And she was ashamed to say that she had let her anger and hatred get too firm a grip on her and it had taken Kirk more effort than it should have to get through to her as well. She had been willing to do dark deeds and sink to Khan's level to get back at the man and that was not something her father would be proud of. He would have been proud of her for making the difficult choice to protect the Universe from the rest of Khan's crew, to do so with only concern for the Fleet and the peoples of the universe in her heart and not for revenge.

And he would be proud of her for this, for keeping the captain safe, for saving the ship and her crew. He'd be proud and that thought alone, well…that and the knowledge that in her being there Kirk would be safe…kept her going, kept her climbing.

If she could do this, if she could save the crew...maybe she would have made up for putting them in such danger in the first place.

She stumbled, tripping forward and crying out as she landed on her bad hand, before taking a shaky breath and pushing herself on, nearly jumping up the last few steps to reach the housings, falling to her knees before it. She looked around at it frantically, before reaching out, ignoring the pain in her hand as she tried to pull the housings back into alignment…but they were stuck, the damage around the room having locked them in place.

She let out a frustrated cry and looked around, knowing she didn't have time to get any sort of tool to help her, not that she'd even make it. Right now she could already feel the cold seeping into her, the tingling in her body from the radiation and she knew, she probably wouldn't even make it down to the ground again. She looked up, praying for some sort of miracle…when she spotted the top of the housings. It was partially broken off on the top, but it was enough of a jutting piece sticking out that she could hold onto it. She groaned and struggle to her feet, reaching up and grabbing the metal, closing her eyes in pain as she forced her other hand to clamp around the beam.

She panted, before kicking off the housing, holding tight to the beam, and using that as leverage and momentum to kick at the housings. She kicked and kicked and kicked, slamming her feet into the side of the housing, little by little moving them back. She just needed one more kick, just one more…she told herself the last three kicks. But she kept going, there was far too much at stake for her to give up now, she was NOT going to stop till she breathed her last. Not when everyone was depending on her.

She let out a strangled scream, rearing back, and slamming her feet into the alignment one more time, knowing she'd only manage this last go…

And they fell into place, a blast of energy flying out from it just as she lost her grip on the upper beam.

Victoria fell back from the alignment, tumbling down the debris and what was left of the housing device, rolling down it, groaning and grunting with each piece of metal she hit on the way, rolling as she got to the bottom, falling onto her back with a cry of pain. She gasped in, staring at the ceiling with tears in her eyes, but she could feel it…the rumbling of the engines picking up once more and she could hear it, the roar of the Enterprise as it stabilized in its fall.

She let out a breath, closing her eyes a moment as a tear leaked out the side of them, everyone was safe again…

She snapped her eyes open and looked to the side, more like was unable to stop her head rolling to the side, to see the entrance to the small tunnel she'd crawled through. She had to go, now, she knew. Kirk had a remarkably thick head, he'd wake up soon and she had to make sure she was somewhere that they'd safely be able to get to her instead of risking letting him come in there after her.

With enormous effort, she rolled onto her side, onto her stomach, and forced herself to crawl to the tunnel, into it and towards the glass door she could see Engineering through…

She was sure she might have blacked out for a second because she heard someone with a Scottish accent shouting, "Lassie no!" before her world went black as she slumped just before the glass door…

~8~

Scotty stared in horror at the prone form of Victoria, having fallen just inches away from the door, the entrance to the Warp Core open behind her. He ran to the controls and closed them, knowing the radiation was leaking through the entrance even now and, given her state…she wouldn't survive more of the dangerous and lethal poison.

"Victoria!" he crouched before the door, tapping on it, but she didn't move and he knew he couldn't open the door just yet, they had to wait for the decontamination process to start, to kill the excess radiation in the room. He shook his head and spun around, rushing to the comms.. He'd been about to try and get Kirk awake, having woken to see the man collapsed on the ground beside a chair he was strapped into. He'd struggled a moment before rolling his eyes and unstrapping himself to go check on the captain…when another flash of blonde hair caught his gaze and he'd spotted her crawling out of the Warp Core, the horrible realization of what she'd done dawning on him.

"Engineering to Bridge!" he cried frantically into the comms., "Mr. Spock!" he needed to get the Vulcan down there, because Kirk was stirring, and if the man saw the state Victoria was in…there would be hell to pay and he would need the brute strength he didn't possess to hold the man back.

"Mr. Scott," Spock replied.

"Sir, you'd better get down here," he looked over at Kirk.

"Tory?" the man was mumbling as he roused, looking around for the girl though seeming quite disoriented from the punch to the face he'd been dealt.

"You better hurry," he added, urgent, seeing Kirk starting to turn onto his stomach, pushing himself onto his knees.

"Scotty?" Kirk slurred, blinking before he looked up at the man, "What…" he squinted at him, still not quite awake, "Why am I…" and then he saw it, he saw Kirk freeze as it hit him, "Where is she!?"

Scotty opened his mouth to answer but just…couldn't find words, so he just looked to the side where Victoria was.

Kirk turned in a sharp motion, his eyes widening in horror when he spotted her, "Tory!" he cried, scrambling over to her, not even managing to make it to his feet as he slid on his hands and knees to the door, banging on it, "Tory! Victoria!" he slammed his hands on the door, pounding on it, not sure if he was trying to break through the glass or wake her up, but when he saw her stirring his mind went right to that, "Victoria, wake up!"

Victoria winced as she slowly came around, she could feel herself shaking, her chest aching painfully with each breath she took. She curled her hands into fists, she couldn't even feel her one hand anymore, which might be a blessing. She blinked blearily, wincing and closing her eyes as she caught the light inside engineering, before she forced them open again, knowing she should probably be worried about the black spots in her vision and how hazy everything appeared…but she saw it.

Kirk.

His blue eyes staring at her in shock and horror and fear and concern.

She kept her eyes locked on his, pulling strength from that, as she bit her lip and pulled herself up, struggling to drag herself to the doors, collapsing against it, her head resting on the cold glass. She felt both warm and cold, warm in that the cold glass felt good to her, but she felt cold inside, she was shaking but she knew there was sweat coating her face. She panted, curling her legs beside her as she looked at Kirk…

"Hey," she breathed.

Kirk just shook his head at her, "What the hell is wrong with you?"

"S'not polite," she murmured, her words slurring as she tried to focus on him, she could vaguely see Spock run into the room behind them, staring at her in equal horror.

"Open it!" Spock shouted, staring at them, at Kirk crouched before the door, his hands pressed to it, her hunched over and using the glass as support.

"Can't…" she breathed, her eyes closing a moment, her face scrunching in pain.

"Tory open your eyes," Kirk nearly begged, "Come on…keep those gorgeous eyes open," and so she did.

"Why not?" Spock frowned, looking at Scotty.

"The decontamination process is not complete," Scotty told them solemnly, "You'll flood the whole compartment. The door is locked, sir."

Victoria blinked at Kirk, "Did I do it?"

"Do what?" Kirk stared at her.

"You're…not dead too…are you?" she squinted at him, as though she'd be able to tell, her head was starting to hurt, she...she couldn't remember, had she done it? Did it work? Were the housings aligned again?

"No," he swallowed hard to hear her talking like this, "Whatever you did, it worked," he whispered, "You saved the ship."

She nodded a little feeling her eyes fluttering before she forced them open, "Good…"

"You probably saved everyone from Khan and his crew," he added.

"Had to," she murmured, "Had to do that," she swallowed hard, "Had to do this…"

He shook his head, "This is by far the stupidest thing you've ever done."

"I doubt that," she tried to joke, "Plenty of…other things…come to mind."

He looked at her a long while, seeing her panting, seeing her struggling and growing weaker every second, "Why?" he shook his head, feeling tears gathering in his eyes, "Why would you do something so stupid?!"

She let out a strained breath, "You really don't know?" she tried to smile at him, "Should have known…genius level intellect…boy-brain," she tapped her temple weakly.

He would have laughed if the situation were not so serious, it felt like ages since she'd said he had a boy-brain, but she was sitting in front of him, far too pale, shaking, with her eyes full of tears and filled with such pain he just...it killed him just looking at her, "Tory…" he shook his head, it was not a time for jokes.

"Jim," she looked at him again, rolling her head to stare up at him, "I already lost…one man that I love," she swallowed hard, tears gathering in her eyes as well, "I couldn't…lose another."

Kirk let out a breath at that, feeling his chest constrict painfully, "A man you love."

She weakly nodded, unable to muster the strength to do much else but lift her hand and place it against the door. There was no point in not saying or admitting to it now, she just…wanted him to know before she went. She wanted him to know that, no matter what, she loved him, so much.

Kirk immediately placed his own to hers on the other side of the glass, "I love you too Tor."

"Good," she breathed, trying her best to keep her eyes open, but it was SO hard, she just...felt so tired, so so tired, "Would…haunt your…ass if…you didn't…" she breathed, feeling her strength leaving her, feeling it getting far too close to the end, "I'm sorry…love you Jimmy," she breathed one last time.

Kirk stared at her, watching as her eyes fell closed, "Tory?" he knocked on the glass, but she didn't budge, "Victoria?" and once more, but her head just lulled to the side, "Victoria!" he shouted, feeling his heart starting to race as her hair fell to the side, covering her face, the girl still slumped against the wall, her hand weakly resting on the glass still.

He stayed crouched there, his eyes glued to Victoria, to the rise and fall of her chest, to her hand STILL on the glass as sign she was alive, "Spock…" he called, the Vulcan turning his head as he heard a crack in the man's voice, "I'm scared," he admitted, feeling himself trembling, feeling his heart breaking, his mind going frantic with worry for her, he'd just told her he loved her, he did, he finally had, and now he was losing her, "Help me, please," he nearly begged, "How do you choose not to feel it?"

If he felt it now…he knew he'd feel ten times what he had when Pike died all because of Khan, he'd feel a rage he'd never felt before, he'd feel a desperation to rival Marcus's, and he knew he'd feel a pain that he wouldn't be able to stand. And he knew, to lose her…he would become something FAR worse than Khan or all his crew could ever hope to be if it meant avenging the fallen woman.

"I do not know," Spock swallowed hard, watching them, seeing such raw emotion pass between the two…it tore at his heart and he could actually feel a tear escape his eye, "Right now I am failing."

And he was, because she was his friend, much like Kirk was. He was all too aware, given the year with the crew, that a relationship like that meant that the person in question would do anything for another person, come hell or high water, they'd be there for each other. It was why Kirk and Victoria hadn't wanted to let him die in the volcano, your crew was your family…and right now one of his family were dying before him.

And after what happened to Vulcan, he cherished his new family more than anything.

Kirk didn't look away, just kept his gaze focused on Victoria, "Tory?" he whispered once more, lightly tapping the glass with a finger where her hand was, "Victoria please…" he murmured, resting his forehead to the glass, not feeling able to speak louder, talking like this…it was almost like she was just sleeping and he was trying to wake her up without getting punched or something, he knew Scotty and Spock could probably hear him, but he didn't care…he just…he wanted her to look at him again, to live, "Please open your eyes," he begged, closing his eyes, praying, "Please don't go…don't…don't leave me," he opened his eyes, wet with the tears he refused to let fall, "Please…stay. Please. I love and you can't…" his voice broke, "You can't…"

Victoria's hand slid down the glass as he stared in horror at her chest ceasing to rise.

No.

No, this…this couldn't be happening. It couldn't. Not Victoria, not her. They were…they were supposed to be together! They were supposed to both go out in a blaze of glory in their prime or peacefully in their sleep as a little old couple, not like this. She wasn't supposed to ever die like this. He was supposed to protect her, he'd sworn to Pike he'd protect her, he'd sworn to himself he'd keep her safe! His heart gave a painful thump with each beat, not that he was all too aware of how many beats it gave as he stared at her, the world falling away. There was a ringing in his ears, deafening him to Spock's questions of concern and Scotty's bitter sobs. He couldn't hear anything over the blood flowing in his ears, he couldn't pull his hand away from the glass he felt frozen, shaking. His eyes were clued to Victoria's face, his stomach churning to see that she didn't even appear to have gone peacefully, she didn't look like she was sleeping but more having a nightmare, her face scrunched in pain.

And that's what it was, a nightmare.

Kirk let out a breath he hadn't known he was holding in, and his hand curled into a fist, white-hot rage filling him the longer her stared at her. This was all Khan's fault, all of it. Khan was responsible for the death of two Pikes, for the death of the one he loved like a father and another he loved with all his heart, more than he'd ever loved anyone in his life.

And now she was gone.

And Khan was responsible.

Without saying a single word, Kirk stood, looking down at Victoria one more time, before he turned on his heel and strode out of the room, Scotty and Spock all too aware of what the man was going to do given his fierce expression, his hands in fists, his shoulders squared, his entire demeanor and focus was on one thing.

He was going to kill Khan.

~8~

Kirk stormed onto the Bridge so fast that no one had a chance to call out his return, "Scan the Vengeance for Khan!" he snapped, startling them all with the bite in his words, the anger.

"Sir," Sulu began cautiously, all of them glancing at each other as they eyed their Captain warily. They had managed to get the thrusters on in time to not crash into Earth, but the Vengeance hadn't been so lucky, or at least what was left of it. The ship had narrowly missed them as it fell to Earth and crashed into the water before sliding onto the land near Starfleet Headquarters, "There's no way anyone survived…"

"Khan could," Kirk sent him a glare, "Now run the damn scan!"

Sulu nearly flinched at that, none of them had ever heard Kirk bark an order like that before and they could all feel a tension rising in the room and in themselves, because…for Kirk to act like that…something had to be wrong. They could all feel a pit settle in their stomachs because…he had been something like this when Pike had died and this…was far, FAR worse than what happened with Pike.

None of them wanted to entertain a thought as to what it could mean, because they all knew the only one who would be able to get this tremendous of a reaction out of Kirk…was Victoria.

"Yes, sir," Sulu swallowed, and turned to run the scan, the sensors locking onto something alarming. An image came up on the viewscreen of the ship on Earth…of Khan jumping out of the debris and down to the ground, "Whoa, he just jumped 30 meters!"

Kirk, however, was unimpressed, "Beam him up!"

"There's too much damage, sir," Chekov, who had returned to the Bridge now that Scotty was back, reported, "I have no incoming sig…nal…" he trailed off, seeing Kirk turn his glare on him and, being only 18 years old, he felt quite like his father was not only disappointed but incredibly angry with him, "But…" he tried to think of something to appease the man, "It may be possible to beam you down, sir."

"Inform transport!" Kirk nearly ran out of the room, all of them seeing him grab a phaser on the way out.

~8~

Kirk ran into the transport room, not even bothering with the rather startled transport controller, "Standby for coordinates," was all he offered the man as he leapt onto the transport pad.

"Yes sir," the controller frowned, seeing Kirk panting and tense, a murderous glint in his eyes.

"Enter 3517*2518," Chekov called over the comms..

"Coordinates confirmed," the controller nodded, not even waiting for an order from Kirk before he beamed the man down onto the planet.

~8~

Kirk didn't even hesitate in looking around, nor did he even notice he'd appeared in the middle of a crowd, not when he caught sight of Khan running in the distance and bolted after the man himself with a furious and frightening cry of, "KHAN!"

~8~

Bones stood before a rolling slab, set up in the hallway just outside medical, unable to bring himself to move the body inside. He felt himself momentarily gag at the thought of it, body. It wasn't alive, it was just…a corpse. He closed his eyes a moment, steeling himself, before he pulled the sheet covering it down and looked down at Victoria's body, her head lulled to the side, looking like hell.

"Damn it Vick," he murmured, no bite at all in his words. He shook his head and turned away, he just…he needed a minute, he just needed a moment to gather himself to do this. He refused to let any of the other doctors do this, Victoria would have railed and ranted against it, against any other doctor helping her. Hell, she hated when HE helped her half the time and he was her friend, according to her, the only doctor she liked.

A lot of good that had done though. It was his job to help the crew, to make them better, to save them when Kirk got them into the stupidest of situations…and he'd failed. Victoria was dead and now…HE had to attend to the body.

He took a single step into the medbay, taking a deep breath to gather himself…and spotted the Tribble on the back table…alive. He could see it breathing, faintly hear it purring, and the monitor he'd set up beside it was reading faint life signs…and suddenly…

He felt like a doctor again.

"Get her into medbay now!" he shouted to the nurses and staff around him, startling them with the sudden call, "Now! Get her in the freezer!"

They stared at him for a short moment, if she was dead…what was the point in putting her in the freezer first? They still had to do an examination of her, even though they knew she'd died of radiation poisoning. Victoria Pike was listed as an organ donor and they had to see if there were any that they could possibly rescue…

"DO it!" he snapped and the staff scrambled into action.

"Oh my god Vicky!" Carol gasped, seeing her friend being rolled in on a gurney and led towards a small set of what looked like metal cabinets on the side of the room...

~8~

Kirk ran through the crowd, through traffic, through glass doors, not even bothered by how close he'd come to getting hit numerous times , not really noticing as he raced after the murderer before him. He ran faster when he saw Khan leap off a building and onto some sort of moving unit. He didn't even think as he jumped after the man, rolling with a grunt onto the same unit, pushing himself up and attacking Khan with a vengeance, the man proving his prowess as a warrior as he faced the Captain in battle…

~8~

"We need to get her in the freezer," Bones explained quickly as they hefted Victoria off her gurney and onto one of the slabs they'd pulled out of the cabinets. It was a medical freezer, where they usually stored the bodies of dead crew in order to transport them back to their families for their funerals. It would NOT be good for the families to receive a well, rotting corpse, and the freezers were good for quick journeys. They were nowhere near on the level of the cryo-tubes (he was starting to regret letting Victoria make the decision to leave all of them in the torpedoes now), but they would be good for a few hours…and that was all he was hoping they'd need, "It's our only chance to preserve her brain function."

"How much of Khan's blood is left?" Carol struggled over, tears in her eyes as she saw Victoria slide into the freezer, the metal door sealed shut.

"None," Bones told her grimly, before rushing to the comms., "Enterprise to Spock. Spock!"

~8~

Kirk slammed his fist into Khan's face, managing to knock the man off him as he tried to crush his head like he had done to Marcus. Khan rolled to his feet and jumped off, onto another unit, but Kirk was right behind him, leaping right onto Khan's back an instant later, sending him tumbling down and the fight resumed…

~8~

"McCoy to Bridge!" Bones tried again, having been unable to reach Spock's personal comm., not knowing the man had left it in engineering, dropped it when he'd seen Kirk and Victoria, "I can't reach Spock."

"Dr. McCoy," Spock's voice sounded, "I have just arrived on the Bridge, what is the matter?"

"I need Khan alive," he told them, already knowing that Kirk would have gone after Khan, he doubted there was anyone on the ship less likely NOT to go after the man, but he knew Kirk well enough to know he was going with the intent of killing Khan, "You need to stop Jim and get that son of a bitch back onboard, right now! I think he can save Vicky!"

~8~

Spock turned to Sulu and Chekov the minute the transmission ended, "Can we beam them to the ship?"

"They keep moving," Chekov shook his head, watching Kirk and Khan duking it out, "I can't get a lock on either of them."

Spock nodded at that, realizing that if Kirk was there…perhaps there was another option other than getting Khan UP there, "Can you beam someone down?"

~8~

Kirk was on his back, Khan trying to strangle him…when the lights of a transport appeared at the end of the unit, Spock in the middle of the rings, a phaser in hand as he fired immediately at Khan who fell back off the captain though he appeared unaffected by the stun setting.

Kirk reached out and grabbed a piece of debris, a lone piece of metal almost the length of a crowbar and slammed it out across Khan's face. The man fell back into the side of the unit, before lunging at Kirk again, but he ducked under Khan's swing, managing to get his arms around the man from behind, the metal bar pressed against Khan's neck as he pulled back, choking the man with it. He kneed Khan in the back, driving him to his own knees as his face contorted in rage, a vein bulging in his neck as he tried to strangle the life out of the man.

"Captain!" Spock shouted seeing Khan actually starting to struggle, Kirk getting the best of him, "Captain stop! Jim!" but Kirk was deaf to his calls, "Stop!" so Spock resorted to the one name he knew would cause the Captain to pause, "James!" Kirk looked up at that, "He can save Liaison Pike!" he called to the man, but Kirk seemed confused, whether by his words or as though he didn't realize what he was doing, Spock wasn't sure, "Dr. McCoy can save Victoria but only with Khan alive!"

Kirk let out a breath at that, feeling sound return to his world, feeling…color return, and suddenly feeling tired as the adrenaline drained from him. He knew it was a long shot, he knew Victoria was dead and he'd be grasping at straws to do this...but he needed the hope, the chance, that she'd be ok, that he'd have her back. He shoved Khan forward and reeled back, using the last of his strength to whack the bar across the back of Khan's skull…knocking him out before he fell to his knees, panting.

~8~

Victoria's face scrunched in pain and suddenly there was a hand on her own as it lay above a sheet of some sort, "Victoria?" she heard Kirk breath and forced her eyes open…that…shouldn't be there, she shouldn't be able to hear him talking if she was dead and she swore to god if he'd died too she'd kill him. Somehow.

She winced at the bright, whiteness of the room she was in and groaned, "Medical?"

"Yeah," Kirk laughed, beside her bead, looking down at her with the most relieved expression she'd ever seen on his face, "Try and get up and I will sit on top of you till they strap you down," he threatened, though he knew she was FAR too weak to even push herself up let alone fight her way out of medical, and he'd done all he could to make the room seem not like the medbay so that she wouldn't freak out immediately at being there.

"You'd love that," she shot right back.

"I'd prefer to LAY on top of you actually," he gave her a saucy smirk.

She managed a small smile despite the pain in her body that made her feel like she'd been dragged through a grinder, "Buy me a drink first."

"It's a date," he promised.

She looked up at him, lifting an arm to gently touch his cheek with the back of her fingers, "I was dead," she stated, she knew that much.

"Oh don't be so melodramatic," Bones's voice spoke from beside her, coming up to the bed to check the monitor sitting next to it, "You were barely dead."

"Still counts," she grunted, having tried to move and let her hand fall back down to the bed, "Feels like I was…"

"Yeah," Bones's voice grew softer at that, "That transfusion really took its toll."

"You were unconscious for a fortnight," Kirk added.

She blinked and rolled her eyes up at him, "Don't try to sound romantic James, big words don't suit you."

He rolled his eyes in return, "You love it when I'm romantic."

"I love it when you're YOU."

"I AM romantic though," he puffed out his chest, "Very romantic."

"In your dreams."

"I can prove it."

"Right."

"You and me, dinner."

"After I break out of here?"

"No, right here, right now…well, not now," he thought about it, "Tonight, just the two of us."

"And that drink you promised me."

"No drinking in the medbay," Bones cut in, "Seriously, you nearly die and you're being all…this," he gestured at them.

They looked at each other, only just realizing that somehow, at some point in their little word match, Kirk had made it to sit beside her on the small bed, his arm winding around her as she managed to sit up and lean on him, resting her head half on his shoulder, half on his chest.

"I think I may need medical attention," Bones continued, "You're making me nauseas."

Victoria gave him a tired smirk, "Carol loves old black and white movies," she offered, "And cuddling," she caught the blush on his cheeks telling her he was WELL aware of that last one, "Welcome to the dark side Bonesy."

Kirk though, looked at Bones, more serious, "The transfusion went ok though? No side effects to watch out for?"

"What transfusion?" Victoria blinked at them.

"Your cells were heavily irradiated," Bones supplied, not really wanting to be the one to tell her that it had been Khan, the man who murdered her father, who had saved her life, even against his will, "We had no choice."

"We um…" Kirk took a breath, "Khan's cells healed the Tribble, we thought…"

"That he would save me too?" Victoria guessed, closing her eyes and rubbing her head weakly, NOT happy about that at all, to know that she'd been transfused with…with…with that bastard's blood or something.

But when Kirk reached out and touched her cheek, stroking it softly as she opened her eyes to look at him, seeing how thankful he was that she was alive, how happy, the…love in his eyes compared to the devastation she'd seen in them in her last memory…she could live with what happened. Or she told herself she could, she just…she'd try to, for Kirk. Because…as much as she hated Khan, she was still alive because of him, she was back with Kirk.

"Once we caught him, I synthesized a serum from his super blood," Bones explained, "Tell me, are you feeling homicidal, power-mad, despotic?"

"It's not that time of the month," she shrugged, smirking a bit at how the men flushed and shifted, "So no, I think we're safe for now," she let out a small laugh at Bones's nod, "Just…" she hesitated, not sure she wanted to know, "I doubt Khan just gave you the blood to heal me…"

"He didn't," Kirk agreed.

"Jim here tracked him down and nearly beat his head in with a crowbar," Bones added.

"Nice," Victoria nodded.

"It wasn't a crowbar!" Kirk huffed, though he flushed thinking about how he acted, he would have LOVED to truly beat Khan to death but only the thought of him saving Victoria kept him alive, "It was just a piece of metal!"

Victoria nudged him a little, "My hero," she whispered, making him look at her and smile, "You saved my life."

"Spock and I had something to do with it too you know," Bones rolled his eyes, nodding to the Vulcan standing in the back of the room.

"Well thank you," she smiled at them.

"You both saved my life," Spock cast off the thanks unlike Bones, who nodded at that, "And the lives of many others," he tilted his head, "You, Victoria, are important to Captain Kirk, I could not let him destroy the chance to save you," he hesitated a moment, "You are…important to me as well," he glanced between them, "Both of you. I…consider you to be among my closest friends."

"Thank you Spock," Kirk smiled at him, squeezing Victoria once more, knowing that without Spock there to stop him…he really would have killed Khan, and Victoria wouldn't be back with them.

"You're welcome, Jim," Spock gave a nod of the head.

"If we're friends…" Victoria began, "Could I ask a favor of you Mr. Spock?" Spock turned to her as though waiting to see what it was before he promised anything, darn Vulcan foresight, "Get me out of the medbay?"

Kirk just laughed, seeing her spirit intact, and reached out to touch her cheek, turning her head to face him as he kissed her, pouring his relief of her being alive into it, not caring that Spock and Bones were still there as he did so.

~8~

Victoria and Kirk walked through the halls of the Enterprise, having just come from a small ceremony that had been put together by the Fleet to honor those that had died in Khan's attack now that the man had been dealt with. Unfortunately, the Fleet had gotten wind of their capture of Khan, of what they'd done to the rest of his crew, and had seized the body from them. They had feared what the Fleet might do with the specimen of Khan, but been reassured (and been there) when Khan was placed back in his cryo-tube and sealed in the lowest, most heavily guarded levels of one of the top bases for the Fleet on Earth. They were given express promises that Khan was NEVER to be awakened again, the man's cell sealed.

They were grateful that the Fleet didn't see him as a tool, like Marcus had, but as the criminal he was, this was his version of a life sentence, forever frozen, forever locked away. As he deserved.

But the Fleet had continued on to give the ceremony as a means of closure to all those who had lost someone to Khan and they'd attended. Victoria couldn't bring herself to speak though, too overwhelmed with the remembrance of her father's last moments, of how close SHE had come to being Khan's victim, and so Kirk had offered to speak on her behalf and given a moving speech about how revenge was never the way, how the Captain's oath meant more than just a pledge but served as a memory of what the Fleet stood for.

Now though, they were heading back to the Enterprise's Bridge, ready to just…get away, get away from Earth and the Ceremony and the memory of Khan. The Fleet had offered them the 5 year mission into deep space and they'd taken it without a moment's hesitation, needing…something new.

And speaking of something new…

"So you love me then, eh?" Victoria smiled, her hand brushing beside Kirk's as they walked.

The man smiled and snatched her hand, holding it in his, not caring who might see their captain walking the halls and holding hands with someone, "Depends…"

"On what?" she gave him a playful look.

"You love me back?"

"I think I loved you first," she countered.

"Oh yeah?" he scoffed, "When?"

"When what?"

"When did you fall in love with me?"

She was actually silent at that, considering his question. She knew when she realized she loved him, when she'd seen him about to be banished from the Enterprise during the Vulcan attack and realized that she just…couldn't leave him alone, that she didn't want to be apart from him and that she wanted to be with him, forever if she could. But when had she actually fallen?

She smiled, realizing when, "When I saw you sitting there with those ridiculous napkins in your nose."

"You're joking," Kirk laughed at that, "THAT was what made you love me? Not my charm or dashing good looks or…"

"Shockingly big ego?" she quipped.

He rolled his eyes, but looked at her, "Really? That was when?"

She shrugged, a pink tint to her cheeks, "You were…you then," she offered, "You weren't the drunk flirt, you weren't the genius delinquent, you weren't the arrogant fighter…you were your most human then," she looked at him, "You were just a boy for that second, and, I don't know, I felt like…like I could see the real you. Hurt, but fighting, knocked down but still sitting strong. And I knew you were something different."

He smiled at that, at that description of himself, if seeing him like that got her that interested in him, maybe he should get his nose broken more often…

"Don't you dare," she pointed at him, seeing his expression and just knowing where his mind had gone. She poked his nose gently with her already extended finger, "I like your face the way it is."

He gave her a cheeky, smug grin at that, reaching up to take her finger, holding her other hand in his own as he stopped walking, "You want to know when I fell?"

"Let me guess," she rolled her eyes playfully, "When you first saw me sitting across the bar from you, you were just smitten by my good looks and mysterious air…"

"No," he laughed, seeming to both surprise her and not-surprise her at the same time, "I…think it was," he lifted her hand, the one she tended to punch people with, the one she always seemed to be getting hurt, all healed up thanks to Khan's blood, "I think it was when I saw you take Cupcake out and hurt your hand," he gently rubbed her knuckles with his thumb, "You were just…this little thing, but with this power punch," he smiled at her, "And you got hurt for it. You weren't this…untouchable, unreachable, stone warrior," that was the best he could describe it, he saw a lot of people get into fights and not get hurt, the movies were full of them, it made them seem unreal, but Victoria got hurt, she hit someone and there were consequences, it made her… "You were REAL," he nodded, THAT was how it should have been described, "And I could tell you'd be this…person whose smallest action or look would affect so much around her…" he let out a soft breath, "Your little punch affected me, I fell hard right then and there."

She smiled at that, "What does that say about us? That we fell in love when we saw the other one hurt?"

"I think…" he trailed off a moment, thinking about that, "I think it means we realized the other person wasn't invulnerable, that they…they could get hurt, and they'd need someone there when they did. And that…WE wanted to be that other person. I always want to be that person for you Tory," he admitted, "I really DO love you."

"I love you too," she whispered, leaning in to kiss him gently, "And I'll be there for you too. But…" she smirked as he gave her a look, "I really am NEVER punching anyone for you again."

He laughed, turning to continue their walk, "I'll believe THAT when I see it," he winked at her, knowing she'd promised that repeatedly in the past and never seemed able to quite manage keeping it.

"Captain on ze bridge!" Chekov called as the doors to the Bridge opened and they stepped onto it.

"It's hard to get out of it once you've had a taste," Kirk remarked to Sulu who was sitting in the Captain's chair, Victoria heading over to speak to Carol when she spotted the woman, "Isn't that right, Mr. Sulu?"

"Captain does have a nice ring to it," Sulu laughed, getting up, "The chair is all yours, sir."

"Mr. Scott, how's our core?" Kirk called into the comm..

"Purring like a kitten, Captain," Scotty cheered, "She's ready for a long journey."

"Excellent," he grinned and turned to Bones as the man glanced at Carol, "Come on, Bones, it's gonna be fun."

"Five years in space, God help me," he muttered.

"Think of it like this…five years with Carol," he winked at the man, patting him on the arm as Bones's cheek turned faintly pink, before he headed over to Victoria as she spoke with the girl in question.

"I'm really glad you decided to stay," Victoria was saying as she hugged the woman.

"Welcome to the family," Kirk agreed, moving to wind an arm around Victoria's shoulders when she pulled away.

"It's nice to have a family," Carol smiled at them, grateful for taking her on despite her trickery to get there.

"So," he turned to Victoria as Carol wandered casually over to Bones with the excuse of having a question about a pain in her leg, right…

"So?" she looked at him.

"Are you ready?" he asked, trailing his hands down her arms to take her hand, "Five years in space…it's a long time. Anything could happen."

"Five years with you?" she paused to consider it, "Not long enough. I think we ought to get lost somewhere near the end of it."

He beamed at that and kissed her healed-hand, leaving her at her post before he headed to his chair, "Spock," he greeted as the Vulcan entered the Bridge.

"Captain," Spock nodded.

"Where should we go?"

"As a mission of this duration has never been attempted...I defer to your good judgment, Captain."

Kirk grinned and turned, sitting on his chair, "Mr. Sulu, take us out."

"Aye, Captain," Sulu nodded, reaching out to send the ship into warp, a world of possibilities open to them and none of them could wait to find out what those possibilities would lead to.

To be continued…in…Veritas et Fortitude!

A/N: I can't believe it's over! O.O I'm so sad now, I love Tory and Kirk, and speaking of...the official winner of the poll is...Kory! ^-^ Adorable :) I really hope you all enjoyed this story and this chapter, though I have to ask. Is is slightly bad/evil that I'm hoping it made you cry a little bit? }:)

On a lighter note, I really want to say thank you to all of you :) To anyone who read/reviewed/favorited/followed/anything this story. You all mean the world to me and I'm so glad that you liked it :) I love you all so much!

Just for future reference the third story in this series will be up when the 3rd Star Trek movie comes out :) The last story in a series will be whatever movie is last when they confirm the current cast will no longer be a part of the movies series :) And, for anyone who's interested, I'll be posting a Doctor Who, Time Lady story on Friday that starts in Series 4 ;)

Some notes on reviews...

Not quite the both of them, but they both suffered I think }:)

I hope the unoffical mission was successful ;)

Oh I think Victoria sort of knew from the start when her father died that Khan would be the death of her too :( Going in was just her way of keeping Kirk from dying with them :'(

I gave Kirk a bit of the KHAN! lol ;)