Disclaimer: I own nothing of Star Trek, merely Tempe.

Lies Unfolded

"Don't you touch me." I smacked his hand away from my face. He chuckled and took another step closer to me, his body was almost touching mine and he had me pinned against the cave wall.

"Settle down darling. There's no need to be so feisty." He said smirking at me before he transformed and the smirk became Exodus's not the human he was imitating Gordon's. I gasped in awe, it had been so long since I had seen his real face, the face that I once loved.

"Your turn." I hesitated. "By now they lost your signal completely so you have nothing to worry about." My eyes flashed in panic. I was terrified for James, and what he would do if he thought that he had lost me. But to get back to him I had to play whatever game Exodus had set up for us. I relaxed my body and thought of my original face. I felt the heat spread from all over and opened my eyes when the change finished.

"Beautiful…" He whispered as ran his hand through my silver hair. "What did you mean that they have lost my signal completely?" I asked the gravity of those words finally sinking in. "Well they just lost it when you transformed. It's locked on to Tempe not Ariadne." He smirked. "But don't get upset darling, they wouldn't have been able to beam you up anyways I made that impossible."

I pushed him away from me and paced further into the cave. "So what now Exodus?" I turned on my heel to face him. "What can you possibly do to me now?" I was exasperated and terrified. The sort of terror I hadn't felt since Nero almost destroyed my future.

0-0-0

"Jim, she's going to be alright." Bones said attempting to be reassuring but both of us could hear the hollowness of his words and the falseness that they held.

"Bones, we both know that's not true. She's gone. Or I don't know…" I trailed off as my head collapsed in my hands. My eyes were burning with unshed tears and I didn't want to cry. Not yet at least.

"She just told me yesterday." I said softly. "About the baby?" Bones asked. I nodded my head and closed my eyes as I tried to remember her face as she told me.

The silk of the bed sheets wasn't as soft as her skin. I mused as I traced the curve of her back letting my hand end in her chocolate brown curls. "James." She murmured quietly as she smiled at me.

That smile made my heart melt every time. "Yes?" I said returning her smile with ease. "I have something to tell you…" I watched her lips as she spoke more mesmerized bdy her than her actual words.

"What is it?" I said as my eyes wandered from her lips to her emerald ones. She inhaled slowly before exhaling and answering me. "I'm pregnant." I faltered and my mind went completely blank. The smile that was on her lips slowly ebbed away as I sat there in shock.

"James say something, anything." She pleaded sitting up and pulling the sheet to her chest. Finally I snapped out of my trance as thoughts of Tempe holding my child filled my head. "You're pregnant?" I asked as I began to smile again.

"Yes." She said breathlessly as the faintest of smiles began to grace her lips. I crashed my lips to her own. There were no words that would suffice.

"How long have you known?" I asked looking up at my best friend. He looked ashamed. "A month."

"What took her so long to tell me?" I asked my brows scrunching together. "I guess she was looking for the opportune moment. I'm not sure I was sworn to doctor-patient confidentiality so I couldn't tell you."

"Well I guess it doesn't matter now. All that matters is that we get her back. We need to organize a search party." I said as my wits slowly came back to me. "I can't believe it took me that long to realize that." I stood and started pacing. "Bones, get Spock and then we are going back down there."

0-0-0

"Ariadne, there is nothing I am going to do to you. I simply needed to talk to you away from your new life." He said as he stepped nearer to me. He held out his hand. "Do you trust me?"

I couldn't help it but I remembered the last time he uttered those words.

We were standing in the middle of King Henry the Eight's court. I was Anne Boleyn and Katharine was still queen. "How will we get her off the throne?" I asked him my voice barely audible over the festivities. "I have a plan. I just have to know something first." He turned his golden brown eyes on me and I paused mesmerized. "Do you trust me?"

"The last time you uttered those words things didn't fare very well for me if I remember correctly." I said as I sidestepped him.

"If you are talking about the incident of being queen I cannot take the blame for that. I was restrained elsewhere."

"You left me. You left me to fend for myself against the vultures of court and only came back the day of my execution. I thought I was going to die!" My voice that had started off somber and emotionless slowly grew to where I was screeching at him.

"I saved you that is all that matters now. Why dwell on something that happened over seven hundred years ago?" He asked.

"Because that is why I don't trust you Exodus. You left me and you continued to do so the remaining time we had together."

"You were being stupid Ariadne. Your stunt as queen almost got you killed. And you chose that path. You could've ruined an entire nation just for the thrill of having that much power. And that wasn't your first time of acting on impulses nor was it your last. I couldn't sit around and clean up after every mess you made because you were an emotionless droid that was searching for something impossible!" His face turned red and in two quick steps he had me by the arms as he shook me.

"Why? What was the point of it all darling? Just to find those blue eyes?" He spat out as he finally put me down shoving me away from him.

"I needed to feel again. I hadn't felt anything since the Greek empire disappeared into nothingness. Since the days that I was Guinevere and you my Lancelot. I was lost."

"And now you're found?" He said sarcasm laced his every word. "Yes. In a sense I am. I'm finally content and feeling something then you of all people show up."

"Well darling sorry to disappoint but I'm here for a reason. You're living a delusion. James Kirk will die. That is inevitable. There is no way you can change that. Plus you've already tried to and failed if you care to remember."

"You think I don't know that he's going to die?" I said as I slapped him across the cheek, the sound of my hand hitting his flesh echoed throughout the cave. "Of course I know. Everyday I watch and think of how I haven't changed any and he's slowly changing. A new age line beginning to form. Another part of his anatomy dies a little with each waking moment and there is nothing, absolutely nothing I can do to change that." Tears pricked at my eyes and they started to pool and fall.

Silence filled the cave besides my sobs that I attempted to muffle. Exodus put his arm around me and pulled me into his familiar chest. I wrapped my arms around him and felt his shirt begin to get wet from my tears. "You really love him, don't you?" He asked and I nodded as my sobs ebbed away into silent tears. I was still too choked up to speak.

"There is so much I need to tell you Ari, before I let you make your decision. So please darling, hear me out." He swept my silver hair out of my face and wiped the remaining tears off my face tenderly.

"Tell me everything." I said my voice cracking.

0-0-0

"What do you mean that our transporter is down?" I yelled at Scotty. His face was pained and I hoped that he was feeling like shit because if he wasn't I'd make sure that he was soon enough.

"Ah, uhm, well Captain, they're uh jammin' our signal." I really wanted to throw something or hit someone and currently the only person I wanted to hit was the person in front of me.

A hand gripped my shoulder and I wheeled around ready to punch whoever decided now was the opportune moment to hit me. I faced Bones. "Jim calm down. We can man a shuttle to the surface."

"It's a quite logical situation Captain." Spock said studying me warily. "I will get to the shuttle bay and contact you and Dr. McCoy when we are ready for departure." Spock left the transporter room and a tension filled silence hung over us.

"Come on, Jim, we need to have a discussion." Bones said as he gripped my arm and led me out of the transporter room. "Jim, you are unfit for duty. You're emotionally compromised and with good reason but you need to let Spock be Captain for this mission and you need to listen to him and me. It'll be bad enough if we lose Tempe, but Christ we don't need to lose you too."

I was furious but Bones was right. Hell he was rarely wrong. "Ok. I relinquish my title as Captain for this mission and until we get Tempe back." I continued to walk but Bones stopped.

"Jim you need to prepare yourself for the worst. We may not be getting her back."

0-0-0

"Do you remember the last time I came to you?" He as we sat together in the cave. I nodded my head slowly. "Why do you remember it?" He asked as he stared into my eyes intently.

"I've been dreaming of it…" I trailed off. "You influenced the dreams." I finished as realization hit me.

"Yes I did. I'm sorry I did that because I once promised you that I would never influence your dreams but you can't imagine my surprise to see your beautiful emerald eyes all over the television with two men who look exactly like the men from 1860. So I did some research." He cracked his knuckles before restarting his tale.

"James Kirk, is the descendant of Jackson Kirk. The very man you married and later became the widow of. Louis McCoy is Leonard McCoy's ancestor too." He stopped and I let the information sink in. Leonard and James were the mere images of Louis and Jackson the more I thought about it.

"Those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it." He quoted before continuing. "When I saw that you had to be reliving the past I made my move. I became Lieutenant Gordon Green. The paperwork was all faked for Starfleet to believe that I needed to be put on the Enterprise. And sure enough I was. Where I was given the opportunity to be near you without you knowing about me, and I waited trying to find out as much as I could before I intervened."

I sat up straighter at the word intervened. Whenever Exodus decided to intervene it rarely turned out well for me. I slowly slipped into the past as his last intervention came to mind.

"Well you're a widow now Miss Anne." Joseph drawled from behind me. The tears weren't even dry on my cheeks and he was already mocking me. "You bring me the news of my husband's death then you have the gall to mock me in my own house. Get out. I don't want to see your face again until you bring me my husband's body." I spat at him.

He smiled his arrogant smile one last time before exiting my parlor. I listened to his footsteps die away before I started crying again. Jackson had just died as a confederate soldier in one of the battles. We had barely been married two years before he left to be a glorious soldier. I begged him not to go but he only had thoughts of greatness in his mind. A knock on the wood of the door shook me from my sorrow.

"A minute please." I called out to the unknown visitor as I wiped the tears from my cheeks and eyes. I pinched my cheeks hoping to bring color to them. "Come in." I called as I stood prim and proper, the very image of a lady. As soon as Louis's face came into view I crumbled and ran into his arms sobbing.

He wrapped his arms around me as he supported my weight. My tears started to soak through his shirt as the sobs wracked my body and I uttered unintelligible things to him. Next thing I knew I was nestled into his chest as he rocked me back and forth as we were sitting on the couch.

"Hush Anne hush." He mumbled. "I'm so sorry." I choked out in between sobs. "All my fault." I cried out. Repeating the words over and over. Louis abruptly stopped. "Don't say that Anne, there was nothing either of us could do to save him. Jack wanted to go to war, neither of us could prevent that." His hazel eyes bore into my bloodshot emerald ones.

"Were you with him?" I asked my voice sounded meek and unsure, the very opposite of how it usually sounded. His eyes darkened and he looked away from me. "Yes." His reply was short and pained. "His last words were of you actually, 'Take care of her Louis' that was what he told me. I couldn't save him, but I tried god dammit, I tried." I grasped his hand and squeezed. I had lost a husband, but Louis had lost his best friend that he had had his entire life.

"You know you don't have to take care of me, Louis." I whispered as he tightened his grip on me. He looked at me, his eyes told me the entire story, he was a man who had seen too much and he was drowning in his sorrows. "I want to take care of you Anne, for Jackson, and for my own selfish reasons." He turned away from me as his cheeks turned pink.

"What do you mean by your own selfish reasons?" I asked putting my hand on his chin and pulling his face so his gaze would meet mine. "I thought it would be obvious by now, I've loved you ever since the moment I laid eyes on you, Anne." He said as he brushed my cheek with his fingers tentatively.

My heart was pounding as he said those words and I felt frozen. I would be lying to myself if I said I had never thought about the doctor that way. I actually felt that way about him before Jackson, but after Jackson came into my life I couldn't imagine myself with anyone else but him. "I have loved you too, Louis, but it's too soon."

He eyes lit up in surprise and happiness. "I understand that this is way too soon, but will you marry me? We can wait as long as you need, but I have to know that I at least have you." I leaned forward and kissed him. "Yes." He crashed his lips to mine for the second time.

"What are you thinking of Ariadne?" Exodus's voice brought me back to reality. "The day you brought me the news of Jackson's death." I replied quietly still lost in the past.

"You're last husband is now just in his grave and you're already engaged again?" Joseph asked. I was standing at Jackson's freshly dug grave, the funeral service was earlier in the day and the red clay still smelt of the earth. "It doesn't affect you, Exodus. Leave." My voice was cold.

"I'm not done here, darling. They'll be burying you soon enough and we both know who'll have to dig the body up." He brushed the back of my neck with his lips. "You should leave with me and forget all of this before you get in too deep."

"Do you remember the funeral?" I asked abruptly. He nodded, curiosity etched his flawless face. "Do you remember what you said to me?"

"I told you to leave before you got in too deep, but you didn't listen, you never did listen."

"Do you remember the day you forced me to leave? The day you basically kidnapped me?" I said turning to glare at him.

"Like it was yesterday." His smile was sadistic.

"What are you doing here Joseph?" I asked as I backed away from him. "You know why I've come, Anne." I stepped further away from him as he came closer to me.

"You need to leave, Louis isn't here." I said as I got closer to the baby's room. I could hear my son gurgling through the door. "I know Louis isn't here. I know that the only people that are here are you and your son. That's why I came."

"It's been five years since Jackson died. Please let me live my last few years that I can in peace with Louis." I begged, trying to find the remains of the man I once loved in his eyes. "What you're looking for is gone, Ariadne, you killed him long ago. Now it's time to leave, don't make me do this forcibly." He came nearer to me and I ran for it. I slammed the door to the nursery shut and locked the door hoping it'd keep him out.

"I'm glad you decided to run, then it'll look more believable that you were kidnapped." He shouted as I heard him hit the door. The baby, Jackson, started crying and I went to pick him up rocking him back and forth gently. "Hush baby hush. Daddy will be home soon and everything will be alright." The door shook again and Jackson wailed louder.

"Mommy loves you very much." I whispered as the tears pricked at the back of my eyes. He wouldn't remember me, nor what I was saying. I knew with the next crash against the door that Exodus was going to get his way and take me away. I laid Jackson down and started scribbling a letter out to Louis.

I finished with a swoop and hide the letter with the baby as the door fell to the ground. "Put up a struggle Ariadne, make it look real." Exodus snarled. "Come and get me you bastard." I feinted to left before running to his right. His hand caught the hem of my dress and I heard the fabric rip as I scrambled away. I toppled over a few dining room chairs as he gained on me hoping that they'd block his path.

He jumped over the dining table and slammed me into the wall as he caught me by the neck. The painting that hung above my head crashed down on him giving me enough time to get free. I sprinted down the narrow hall and was almost to the front door when he caught me and drug me to the floor. "I believe we made it look convincing enough. Night darling." He poured an unknown liquid down my throat that I almost choked on then I saw nothing but black.

"So this is why you came, isn't it?" I choked out a manic laugh. "You're going to take me away, aren't you?"

A/N: Just wanted to say a quick thanks to all my faithful readers who have stuck with me this far. I'd really like some feedback since it's been awhile since I've updated frequently. I promise the story will be over soon and it won't be another year til you get your ending. Love you guys for sticking it out this long!