Author's note: Well, I've REALLY been inspired; here is the first chapter already! This is the chapter where I do my "house-keeping"; ie I set up the beginnings of the story. I promise this slow pace won't go on for much longer ... but believe me it's better this way!

 
Drowchild: lol! I wrote it =)
 
April: Thanks =) Hope the fic is up to your expectations! 
 
Andrea: Lots of Tom? You betcha! Tom-angst here we come ... *laughs* 
                                              
Tom's girl 4ever: Here's the fic! =) I take it from your name you're a Tom fan? 
 
izzygirlxp: Thanks =) Lol Skinner is here ... he's just not easy to see! ... damn that was a bad pun ... No, I don't think it's weird to think an invisible man is hot ... especially one like Skinner! 
                                              
Clez: =) Hope you like it ... and thanks for the help with italics – yours truly is a writer, not a technologically expert writer *laughs* - not meant in a bad way, of course. I just ... oh damnit I'm confused! Anyway – thanks! 
                                              
Sethoz: Maths vs LXG ... *thinks* hard choice!! Mind you my maths teacher wasn't impressed ... *laughs* Hope you like the fic ... 

Chapter 1: Aftermath

They met on the snow outside the smoking ruins of M's fortress; Sawyer, sporting bruises and some minor cuts, and Skinner barely conscious from his burns – Nemo had carried him out – but with the others relatively unscathed by the fight.

Jekyll examined the group. "Where is Quatermain?" he said, asking the question no one else dared to.

"He's dead," Sawyer said, abruptly. "M stabbed him in the back." His control was wavering, but he held himself tall. "Quartermain is dead." I won't cry, he told himself firmly. I won't cry... don't cry, Sawyer, whatever you do DON'T start crying!

Jekyll nodded slowly, staring at the ground. Nemo bowed his head and placed his hand on his chest, murmuring a prayer to Kali, Goddess of Death, to keep Quatermain safe. Mina's expression barely changed – and Sawyer found himself irritated by this. Does she not care? he wondered angrily. Can she not even pretend to be upset?

Nemo gave a quick order to three of his crew, who walked quickly back towards the fortress. "They will retrieve his body," he told the rest of the League. "He should be buried in Africa, where his heart lay."

Mina nodded. "Very good," she said quietly. Sawyer repressed a sigh of frustration – did she really not care?

Mina looked over at Sawyer suddenly, and Sawyer hoped his thoughts weren't evident on his face. However, Mina gave no indication of having guessed what Sawyer thought of her. Instead, she said calmly: "Let us take Mr Skinner to the Nautilus. He needs medical attention."

Sawyer resisted the urge to snap "You don't think?!" at her, instead leaning over and picking Skinner up as gently as possible and starting out towards the Nautilus. Nemo, Jekyll, and Nemo's crew went ahead, but Mina walked a little slower, and measured her pace to that of Sawyer, burdened by Skinner.

"You are angry at me, Mr Sawyer," she stated softly. Tom didn't reply – he didn't know how to reply. "You think I should react to Mr Q's death," she continued. She looked at him now, trying to catch his eyes. Tom, however, kept his gaze resolutely on the ground in front of him, concentrating – or pretending to – on keeping Skinner from slipping off his shoulder as they trudged through the snow.

"What would you like me to do?" Mina asked suddenly, her voice a little angry. "Weep? Tear out my hair? Collapse into hysterics to prove that I am upset? Do I look like the type of woman who has hysterical fits?"

Tom allowed himself a response. "No." It came out surlier than he meant it too. Mina nodded slowly.

"Thank you Mr Sawyer," she said, as she quickened her pace a little and walked away from him.

Sawyer paused in his strides. He didn't know why she had thanked him, or what he had done. He put the matter from his mind, however, as he felt Skinner start to slip off his shoulder. Taking a firm hold of the coat Nemo had wrapped around the invisible man, Sawyer lifted Skinner back to a more secure position, and walked on towards the Nautilus.

*          *          *         

The hot sun beat down on them as they stood by the small mound of earth and stone that marked the final resting place of Allan Quartermain. The air was heavy, though whether a storm was coming, or whether this was simply the depression of the League, Tom didn't know.

"So what now?" Jekyll asked. Tom felt an almost overwhelming urge to yell at the man, to berate him for saying "What now?" in such a laidback fashion when they were standing over the grave of their leader ... and their friend. However, he restrained the urge. He knew that the rest of the League still regarded him as a child – even though he was anything but – and such an outburst would only confirm their belief further.

Nemo – as always – had an answer: "I would welcome you all onto the Nautilus," he said quietly, "if you were to take up the invitation."

Jekyll nodded, and Skinner too seemed happy with this arrangement. "We've been hiding for far too long," Mina murmured. Tom nodded. Nemo let a ghost of a smile onto his lips.

"Then it is settled."

Nemo bowed his head in a last farewell, then moved away from the grave. Skinner and Jekyll moved off quietly; but Mina waited an instant longer, looking quietly at the headstone, before she too moved away after the others.

Sawyer waited till they had moved away. He had unfinished business ... He knelt down by the mound of earth, holding the Winchester in his hands, before carefully placing it on top of the grave.

He wanted to say Thanks for helping me ... for helping the "boy" find his place ... Thanks for being the father I never had but all that came out was a quiet "Thanks."

Shaking his head to free his eyes of the tears, Sawyer moved after the others. To his surprise, Mina had waited for him. She said nothing, nor did he try to start a conversation ... but he was glad of her company.

*          *          *

For a month, the Nautilus wandered aimlessly around the Seven Seas of the world; Nemo taking pleasure in showing his passengers – some of whom had rarely traveled outside their own home country – the delights of the farthest regions of the world. Sawyer had lived in America for his entire life before he met the League, and he took great delight in seeing the attractions of places, some of which he had never even heard of before.

Skinner too had never left his home country until the League called him, but he was less interested in scenery than in recovering from the wounds that had been inflicted on him in saving Sawyer's life. He spent the first two weeks still in the medical bay – even spending time in there on the way to Quartermain's burial – recovering before Mina pronounced him well enough to leave. Skinner's first action – predictably – was to pinch Mina's bottom, before he went to the top of the Nautilus, trying to catch Sawyer. He had found the young man, standing on the conning tower, staring out to sea.

To the rest of the League, Sawyer seemed fine – a little sad little from Allan's death – but the speed of his recovery had been remarkable, given his relationship with Allan.

This image was dispelled one night when Mina – who had been testing a sample in the laboratory – was walking back to her rooms; she happened to walk past Sawyer's room.

There was a cry from inside: "Huck! Huck! Oh God, no..."

Mina stopped by the door, momentarily unsure of what to do. Then, acting on instinct, she opened the door.

Tom was lying on the bed, clearly in the grip of a nightmare. Mina paused, her face creased with concern. Tom thrashed about on the bed; his eyes closed and sweat pouring down his face, his mouth open as he begged with his unseen companion.

"Huck ... don't die – you can't die," Tom begged. Mina sat on the bed beside him, taking his hand in hers.

"Tom," she said softly. "Tom ... can you hear me?"

The boy made no response to her, continuing to beg at his unseen friend.

"Mr Sawyer," Mina said sharply, shaking his shoulder hard. "Wake up!"

Tom's eyes snapped open, and focused on Mina. "Mina ... what the..."

"You were having a nightmare," Mina told him, as he seemed unaware of this fact. Tom nodded slowly, and made to sit up. He seemed to remember his nightmare, for he looked sharply at Mina, and asked:

"Did you hear what I was saying?"

Mina paused. "Yes."

Tom nodded slowly ... "Huck ... he was my best friend." He didn't continue; didn't tell her what had happened to Huck ... he assumed that would be self-explanatory, if she really had heard what he said while asleep. "Promise you won't say anything about this – to anyone." His eyes begged her. "Please."

"Very well, Mr Sawyer. But ... if there is anything you would like to talk about..."

"No. Thank you Mina, but ... no."

Mina half-smiled. "As you wish, Mr Sawyer. I will leave you now." She paused on the threshold of the door: "Tom?"

He looked up. "Yes?"

"Just remember ... we are your friends, and we always will be. Whenever you feel like talking..."

"Thank you Mina," he said. "But this ... it's personal."

She nodded, and smiled. "I understand. Good night." She closed the door softly.

Tom buried his head in his hands. Part of him wanted to run after Mina, to spill his guts to her and beg her to tell him that everything was OK ... but perhaps it was his pride that kept him where he was. My damn pride, he thought wryly, before his face sobered. The same pride that got Huck killed …

This was not the first night he had had this nightmare – it was a regular visitor during his hours of rest, and recently had become a frequent visitor even during his waking hours after the death of Quartermain. It haunted him ... the image of Huck, lying on the ground coughing up his life's blood from a bullet wound to his lung; Tom holding him but unable to stem the bleeding or to save the friend he had thrust into danger – the friend who had trusted him.

Trust, Tom thought angrily. Everyone who trusts me ends up dead or heartbroken. His mind flashed back to Becky Thatcher ... her face – smiling through the tears – as she bid the two secret service agents farewell – the misery in her eyes when Tom had broken the news to her, followed by the blind anger and hurt. "Get out!" she had screamed, beating at Tom with her fists. He had stood there, letting her take her anger and pain out on him, until she burst into tears and clung to him for support.

Then there was Quartermain ... in turning to take out Sanderson Reed as M's invisible henchman held Sawyer hostage with a knife at his throat, Quartermain had laid his back open to his enemy, who had seized this chance, and plunged a knife between Quartermain's shoulder blades. Tom had shot M, but too late; his triumph was lost in the sadness of Allan's death.

Why is everyone I care about destined to die, betrayed by me? Sawyer wondered angrily, slamming his fist against the wall.

His mind went back to his conversation with Mina ... ' "Whenever you feel like talking..." '

You know, Mina ... Tom thought, there are some things that cannot be talked about and made right – some things that friends cannot help you with

He rolled over and went back to sleep ... 'to sleep, perchance to dream' (1), he thought with a sigh – there would be no peaceful sleep for Thomas Sawyer this night.

*          *          *

(1) quote from Hamlet, by William Shakespeare

There you have it, chapter 1. More is on its way ... this chapter doesn't really go anywhere, I know. But bear with me, there's going to be LOTS of action, perhaps a little romance, and lots of Tom-angst soon!

Please leave a review ... I promise I won't bite! *is reminded of funny signature line*: "You want a piece of me? ... OK – but just a nibble!" ... *ahem* anyway.