"How many are we looking for?"

"Twelve. They've been gone for about an hour." Tom didn't say anything in response, but Bathet noticed the tightening of his jaw. They stopped at a bend in the corridor and Tom peered around the corner quickly, before nodding and stepping out to continue the silent approach to where their friends and, in this galaxy, their family, were being held. Bathet didn't know how Tom knew where to go, but he trusted the man enough to follow him at this point. Hell, he had come all this way just to help them, the least Bathet could do was follow without question. He also assumed that Tom was in communication with somebody on the ship he came on. Most likely it was the Widariat's whom he had become so familiar with, who had treated him better then most of the Voyager's had.

Tom held up his hand suddenly, the dirt mingled with sweat created a muddy pattern along his forearm and for a moment Bathet wondered how the hell he had become so dirty. They stopped and slid back to lean against the wall beside a door. It must be their destination, but the fact that there were no guards in the hallway boasted of these pirates confidence. It irked Bathet that their crew had been so easily overrun by such incompetent assholes. Tom looked at him suddenly, staring at him with an intensity that almost matched the rage that had been in his eyes when he had attacked Bathet. He was very glad that this time Tom's anger wasn't directed at him.

"There are five guards inside." He hissed softly, and Bathet's hands reflexively tightened on his weapon. "Two in the middle, two to the right of the door, and one to the left." He paused a moment to make sure he understood, and if the situation hadn't been so dire or Tom's voice so commanding, Bathet might have been insulted at the moments pause. He was a security guard trained under Tuvok, he knew how to understand situations like this in an instant. However, he just nodded in confirmation. "I'll go high and take the one on the left and the two in the middle. You take the two on the right. The instant we know everyone is secured you will all be beamed to Voyager. Clear?"

"Clear." Because it really was very straight forward, and there was absolutely no way he was going to question Tom when he was this determined. The icy blue eyes stared at him a moment longer and then Tom silently stepped in front of the door, three darts held in his left hand and one in his right. He was poised for attack and he meant business. Bathet checked that his weapon was armed and moved in beside Tom, bending low on his knees.

"On three. One, two, three." And the moment of attack was upon them. They only had a precious few seconds to act before the Trigan figured out they were under attack, and so neither man hesitated as the door swiftly slid open and they took one step into the room firing. For Bathet it was just like the simulations that the security teams on Voyager practiced weekly. He jumped forward a step, twisted to rest on one knee while his weapon was already being trained on his targets. He fired quickly, not giving himself or anyone else a moment to properly figure the situation out. The two men who had been standing around his crew, their weapons trained on the group in general, looked up as if expecting someone. The moment they realized it wasn't who they had been waiting for was also the moment they fell unconscious to the floor and his crewmembers kneeling closest to them quickly snatched up their weapons. Bathet turned to assess the rest of the room, standing slowly as he did.

Tom had, true to his word, taken out the guard on the left. The Trigan was twitching almost violently on the floor, a bloody dart in one of his hands. The middle of the room was a different situation though, and Bathet froze in his place, slowly lowering his weapon to his side so as not to antagonize the situation any further. One pirate, an ugly woman who's clothing was speckled in places with red blood, blood that was obviously not her own, lay absolutely still on the ground. A dart was sticking straight out of her neck and Bathet wasn't sure if she was breathing. He took a quick look at Tom, and determined that no, the woman was no longer alive, and that had been the intention.

Standing above her lifeless body was where the situation became difficult: Harry Kim was half standing half being held up by his abductor, who had a thick arm wrapped around his neck and a sharp blade pressed right above his jugular. Harry was the reason the woman was spattered in blood, and he didn't look at all happy about it as his sweaty bangs fell over his eyes and he grasped weekly at the arm threatening his air supply. He was breathing heavily out of his nose, and for a moment his breathing was all anyone heard as he struggled to stay standing and not move.

He had blood dripping down his face and over his lip from a broken nose and a split eyebrow. He had a knife wound on his upper chest that was causing a stream of crimson to slide down his bare torso, smearing in places on his light golden skin, and halt where it met with the waistband of his black uniform pants. What was worse, however, was the beginning of the bruises that covered his upper body and looked to travel around to his back. Bathet ground his teeth together as he looked the young man over, feeling absolute disgust and anger rise within him and helpless to do anything about it; because his captor was hiding behind most of his body, and any move they took could mean a slit throat for Harry. Harry was handling it remarkably well if the pissed off look in his eyes was anything to go by.

It only took a moment to realize the captive was staring right at Tom, completely unsurprised to see the man, his best friend. After watching for a moment more Bathet realised that somehow the two men were communicating. Tom didn't appear to be enjoying the conversation.

"Release him." Janeway suddenly pushed forward from the group that had been surrounded, and surprise, surprise she had the felled guards weapon in her hand, an ugly bruise encircling her eye. If looks could kill.

"So you can kill me, I don't think so." The man spat, jostling Harry and causing him to wince.

"If you don't release him I'll kill you either way." Tom spoke up, softly, calmly. Bathet shifted lightly on his feet, suddenly feeling more terrified then he had any right to be. Tom's voice had caused shivers of fear to travel down his spine, and Bathet was pretty sure that Tom had forgotten he was even there. Harry didn't move a muscle, he just kept staring at Tom.

The pirate holding Harry looked directly at Tom, probably for the first time, and his eyes widened suddenly. Then he shook his head.

"No way, you wouldn't risk his life like that."

"I've done worse then just risking peoples lives." This time Bathet took a step away from Tom, feeling the unadulterated rage coming off of him in waves despite the calm voice and deceptively stony eyes. This time Harry did react, his eyes filling with a new anger that was directed at Tom instead of his captor. There was something going on here that Bathet didn't understand, and he was pretty sure he never wanted to if it brought that much hate to the young Asians face. Now Harry was truly pissed.

"Fuck this." He growled, and suddenly his hands dug into the arm holding him by the neck and he pulled hard, dropping in the same instant and twisting his head away from the blade. It was enough for Tom to react, as though he had been expecting this to happen, and he was lunging forward at the same time. It was four steps and Tom grabbed Harry's attacker by literally diving over his half hanging friend and tackling the Trigan right across the chest. The alien never knew what hit him as they crashed to the ground and his head smashed against the metal flooring, his eyes glazing over in confusion and pain. Bathet heard a grunt from Tom as he moved to help the bloodied Harry to stand. The kid was having none of it as he pushed himself to his knees and then his feet, spinning around to face Tom.

The pilot, covered in filth and sweat and now blood, was pulling the blade from his captives clenched fist, and then slowly, methodically bringing it to his throat. There was something animalistic and unholy in his eyes as he quickly, efficiently, and savagely brought the weapon to plunge into the beings chest. There was a moment of shocked eyes, a light puff of breath, and then release as the pirate instantly died, no struggle.

Tom stood, slowly, bringing the dripping blade with him and he spit on the corpse at his feet.

"Fucking Cardassians." He growled, and then he twisted, his eyes completely black with rage as he looked around at the absolutely shocked faces staring at him. He wasn't with them, and his eyes were filled with a vengeance and pain so raw that it took Bathet's breath away.

"Tom." Harry stepped between the Voyager's and his friends, their friends. He held his hand out, the anger from before still in his eyes but now it was replaced by an anguish that Bathet still wasn't quite grasping. "Tom, give me the knife."

"I can't. I have to kill them."

"No Tom, you don't." Tom was confused a moment, but then his look hardened.

"Not them," he waved his empty hand at the people behind him, at the absolutely silent Voyager's. Ensign Barnaine began to sob quietly and Gerron Tem wrapped an arm around her, but his attention was on Tom and there was an understanding in his eyes that was too wise to be coming from someone so young. From someone who had experienced so much pain in his own life. "I have to kill the rest, so they'll stop."

"Tom, they're not Cardassian's." Tom's shifty eyes looked hard at Harry, and they slowly looked his best friend up and down, mapping every single mark upon his skin.

"Close enough." Harry's outstretched hand was shaking; Tom's whole body was beginning to shake as he stared at Harry, no longer focused on his face but on his battered torso.

"It's not as bad as it looks. I'll be fine."

"They might.." Tom's voice cracked and he looked pleadingly at Harry. "They might go after children next time. They might peel their skin off and…and…god the things they could do! Don't you understand? They're monsters!"

"They are not Cardassian!" Harry said forcefully, staring hard, his arm shaking more. Tom looked at the outstretched arm, stared a moment, coming to a decision as he flipped the blade in his hand and held it out to Harry, hilt first. Then, as though his outburst had never happened, the cool, brisk mask of determination and business once again filled his eyes. He looked away from his best friend quickly though, as though he was suddenly ashamed. HE avoided all of their gazes.

"Is everyone accounted for?" He was reaching into his pocket. Janeway was the first to respond, always the quickest to adapt to situations.

"Yes, we're all here Tom. Thank you." He looked up at that, met her gaze, and nodded briskly. He pushed a button on the gadget in his hand and an orange light blinked on.

"Anj'azi, do you have a lock?" He paused, listening to the answer that they couldn't hear. "Activate the degradable Trojan virus and beam everyone back to their ship." Then he looked back at Harry, smiled a little bit sadly and began to fall. Harry caught him even as the light of the transporter surrounded them all.

The instant they rematerialized Harry was working on gaining a proper hold on his best friend, frantically searching his body and noticing, for the first time, the bloody hole on his side.

"Tom!" He hissed, looking around for an emergency med kit and barely taking in his surroundings.

"I didn't quite avoid his knife the way I planned. I can't be perfect every time you know." Tom coughed a little but grinned at Harry all the same, the torment from his eyes gone at the moment, replaced by relief at seeing his best friend. He grabbed at Harry's arms, his hand slipping on the wet skin.

"No, you can only be perfect when it comes to other people's safety."

"Well, that's not really an option. Anj'azi." He called out to the room in general. "Take us out of here and stay close to Voyager. The moment we're at a safe distance beam us both over to her and then," he coughed "then hide both ships signatures and deploy the dummies." He grinned at Harry, and despite the situation Harry grinned back. "I didn't think we'd be able to get you out of there."

"I never doubted it for a second. Actually, I thought it would take at least another day for you to arrive." Harry replied, holding his friend a little tighter as he was practically sprawled in his lap.

"A day? You really don't believe in me do you." But it wasn't a statement or a question and Harry didn't respond to the joke as Tom began to shake in his arms. "Another day…another day and you would no longer be you. You can't become like me Harry. Promise me you'll never become like me." Now Tom's grip on his arm was painful, adding bruises to the ones already there, but Harry would accept these bruises any time. He didn't promise his best friend anything as he held him in his arms, knowing that he couldn't and didn't want to promise him that. Tom had his faults, but he had so much more then that, whether he wanted to see it or not. Harry would strive to be more like Tom, and he would be a better person for it. This he believed with all his heart.

He held Tom for a long time as he lay shaking in his arms, his face pressed against his dirty chest and his silent tears mingling with Harry's blood. The tears didn't stop until Voyager's EMH efficiently and gently administered a sedative and took the pilot into Surgery. The entire crew waited tensely for news, and when it was announced ship wide that Tom was awake and already arguing with the Doctor a cheer went up. Finally, they were a whole crew again, and now they understood exactly what that meant.

Tom sat at the helm of Voyager, running his hands across her gently before signing off and standing from his chair. Harry watched him as he grinned at her and she smiled back flirtatiously, almost hopefully, but Tom was already moving towards the turbolift, giving a small but real smile at the Commander. The Commander, in return, grinned brightly as though he had received a gift, which Harry figured he had, because Tom didn't 'really' smile at many people. In fact, that was probably the first real smile he had given Chakotay since resuming his post on Voyager. Harry stepped into the lift beside him and when the doors closed he pushed him playfully.

"Jackass."

"What? What did I do?" Tom tried to look innocent.

"You're just lucky that I'm the one in charge of communications, or that conversation you were having with Anj'azi for most of the shift would have been reported."

"Please, I fly Voyager three shift a week, can you really blame me for getting bored when we go in a straight line."

"I'm not even going to grace that comment with a remark."

"You just did."

"Shut up."

"It's 'shut up Captain' thank you very much." Harry rolled his eyes but didn't say anything more as they stepped out of the lift and began heading towards the cargo bay turned docking bay. He ignored the way Tom tensed slightly whenever a member of the crew walked by them, and he ignored how Tom tensed even more at the ones that greeted him. It had been a month since they had been rescued from the Trigan, and while Tom put a happy face on and pretended he was comfortable around everyone Harry knew differently. Tom didn't trust this crew anymore now then he had before he left. However, he was happier, because now he didn't have to deal with them on nearly the same level as he had before.

However, things had changed quite a bit, and people were still trying to adapt to their new situation. Harry, for one, was thrilled by how things were turning out, because in all honesty he no longer trusted all of his fellow Voyager's, in fact he had stopped respecting many of them as a whole before they ever met the Widariat's. Tom leaving had just solidified his anger towards them and they were no longer just looking for Tom's forgiveness, but for Harry's as well.

They stepped into the Cargo bay and Tom sighed that happy little sigh he couldn't seem to help every time he laid eyes on his ship.

"Hey beautiful, I'm home." He called out across the bay.

"Oh Tom, where have you been all my life?" Was the sarcastic response as Anj'azi's voice filled the entire room. Harry laughed at Tom's snort. His friend had been absolutely thrilled to learn that his ship's AI had decided to adapt to his wit and sarcasm. Harry often heard the two arguing together, but Tom usually gained the upper hand when he threatened setting her up on a date with the Doc, which she would have to attend because he would make it an order.

"You know, I like her more every day." Harry grinned, Tom's remark was put on hold as they were whisked up by the transporter and rematerialized in the living room.

"You're just saying that to get on her good side."

"I'm already on her good side." Tom snorted and walked off to his quarters to change. Harry did the same. Things really had changed. Tom had given Harry full access to his ship, even so far as imprinting his DNA within the ships mainframe and, basically, becoming apart of the family.

Harry had helped Tom back to Anj'azi when he was well enough to leave the infirmary and Tom had, with absolutely no fanfare, told him to stick his hand on a panel outside the ships cargo holds. It had taken Harry a full five minutes to realize exactly what that had meant. It had taken him no time at all to decide what he was going to do next.

Tom had agreed to remain a part time pilot on Voyager and a part time member of Starfleet. This was something completely unheard of. Never before had Starfleet entertained the idea of a partially instated crew. Well, this was the Delta quadrant and Tom Paris. The two kind of went hand in hand with the 'things unheard of' category. Janeway agreed that while Tom was on board Voyager he would be under her command, but while he was on his own ship he was an ally. Of course, he now held the rank of Captain on Voyager as well; it just didn't hold the same authority as Janeway, understandably.

That first night Harry had been given full access to Tom's ship he moved in, beaming everything from his quarters into the ships second largest quarters. After all, a sidekick needed to remains close. He now operated under the same rules as Tom, only when he was on Anj'azi Tom had decided that the title of Commander was appropriate…or whatever else he felt like calling him at the time, which consisted of the names Toto, Robin, Riker, Chief, Second, Number two and a rather impressive array of other things that Harry usually didn't know the connection to.

They worked the same shifts on Voyager so that they could fly Anj'azi with a 'full' crew compliment. Tom absolutely loved flying her, mainly because he could fly her however he wanted. He invited other people aboard, namely Janeway, Chakotay Tuvok, Neelix and Kes, the Doc, and B'Elanna, but that was all. They weren't given any access to his ship whatsoever, and the envious looks Harry sometimes found himself on the receiving end of sent complicated emotions rushing through him. Pride, because he was apart of this, Satisfaction because they weren't, and anger that most people felt they had some sort of right to be there when they had never been there before. How dare they think that Tom should simply trust them after everything that had happened! Sometimes it mad him so angry, but that really depended on who was giving him the look.

The best part about all of this, however, was that Tom was happy. Oh there was a long way to go before he could heal properly, and Harry honestly doubted that Tom would ever fully recover form his life experiences. However, when he was on his ship he relaxed in a way that he had never allowed himself on Voyager. He became more open, more accepting in general, and he no longer locked the darkness away within himself. Kes was helping him with that and, Harry liked to think that he was helping as well.

Harry felt the slight vibration run through the ship that indicated they had left Voyager and, after showering and dressing he went to the living area. He stopped as he saw Tom sitting on the couch, and then he looked to the table to see what had captivated his attention so completely. The Magtaur toy sat, leaning to the right, looking back at Tom. Harry stared a moment, taking in everything that adorned it and recognizing the loss that they represented. He sat in the chair across from Tom, the table and animal between them. His friend's eyes were haunted. Harry didn't say anything; he just sat there and watched his friend watching the toy.

It was a long time before Tom let out a shaky breath and finally met Harry's eyes, and if the pilot's eyes were a little moist Harry ignored it. Tom nodded at him, and sat up straighter. He leaned forward and curled his fingers around the lock of hair, gently rubbing it until it all fell from his grip. He stared a moment longer.

"Anj'azi. Beam the magtaur toy into space. Don't rematerialize it." A few moments later it disappeared. Harry kept staring at Tom as he stared at the table, until the blue eyes looked up again. Tom nodded at him, stood, and moved to the bridge, calmly taking his seat. Harry joined him a moment later, silent, and as they shot ahead of Voyager to scout out the path ahead he allowed himself a smile. Tom wasn't better, he had a long way to go; but mixed with the pain and sorrow, the anger and the despair that haunted his eyes was the first true sense of peace and hope that he may have ever carried. Harry bore as silent witness, and there was no place he would rather be.

END

Note's: Okay, I know the ending was rushed, but I just wanted it finished. I hope that what I did write was enough of a wrap for everyone! Thanks again for all of your fantastic comments over the years!

Cheers.