When I opened my eyes again, wrapped up in a Tom's bear hug, it was after 8. I turned towards him, and he smiled at me.

"Hey," Tom greeted. "Sleep well?"

I smiled, nodding. "Yeah."

My stomach chose that moment to growl.

Tom let go of one of his arms that was still wrapped around me. Gave my left side a playful nudge. "Hungry?"

"You couldn't tell?" I laughed.

"Yeah, me too. I didn't want to wake you up, though..." Tom trailed off.

"Thanks. You didn't wait too long, did you?" I asked him, a little concerned.

"Naw, maybe five minutes." Tom rumpled my hair. "Anyway, I wasn't going to starve, either way."

I nodded, relieved. We got out of bed, and Tom studied me. "You know, you're almost as tall as me. I might need to stop calling you midget if that happens."

I laughed, following Tom out the door. "I don't mind. You can go call me that, even when I'm a foot taller than you."

Tom snickered, draping an arm around my shoulder. "Oh, you might not be a midget anymore, but you're never going to be a foot taller than me."

"Probably not," I relented. I paused, considering for a minute, my hand still on the doorknob. "Does Aftran ever call you anything? Like, a nickname?"

"She calls me 'honey' sometimes. But nothing super creative, like 'midget'," Tom answered. "Not sure Yeerks are very creative that way. Even the good ones."

Tom must have been talking to Aftran, because he had stopped walking.

"Tom? You coming?" I asked from the doorway.

"Sorry. Got distracted," he explained, a little sheepishly, pointing to his head.

I nodded, kind of pleased for having guessed right, and we headed downstairs.

During the weekends, breakfast has become "eat whatever you find in the cabinets or the fridge before Mom went shopping" on Monday. Not that we were in any danger of starving. We'd run out of stuff once or twice, and Mom would make a stop at the market before then.

Tom chose Frosted Flakes, while I got a much more healthy breakfast of honey nut Cheerios. After drowning our cereal in milk, we sat down to eat. My parents, of course, were already at the table, eating toast and drinking coffee, and reading the newspaper.

"Morning, kids," Mom greeted, looking up at us as we sat down.

"Hey. How was the movie?" I asked.

Dad looked up from his paper, grinning. "Oh, you kids missed a real classic."

"I don't know, Dad," Tom retorted, stirring his cereal around in his bowl. "I'm sure those special effects were pretty good for the dark ages, but I'd have a hard time suspending disbelief if I saw them today."

"Now, young man, I'll have you know that I'm not that old," Dad admonished. "I'm from the Renaissance, at least."

I groaned. "Sure. You were around when dinosaurs walked the planet."

Tom gave me a funny look, but didn't say anything.

Someday, maybe. I didn't know what he'd think about our choice to let an entire species die. Even if it was supposed to happen. Or, maybe not. Thinking about time travel too much gave me a headache.

On the other hand, there were some stories that I could tell Tom. He'd probably get a kick out of Visser Three being sprayed by a skunk.

After breakfast, Mom head out to teach a creative writing class at the local college, and Dad had a patient he wanted to check up on. He almost never did house calls, but based on how everything had gone on Friday, and at the request of the kid's parents, he wanted to be extra careful.

"Try not to burn the house down while we're away," Dad joked, starting up the car.

"I thought you were a kid when they discovered fire," I shot back, grinning.

Dad just laughed, and waved goodbye as his car disappeared down the driveway.

"Nice one." Tom grinned at me. "Kind of a Marco joke, but nearly not as bad."

I smiled back. "Thanks. They're not all bad, you know."

"I'll take your word on that." We headed back inside. "We never did get a chance to try out that video game last night. You up for it?"

"Definitely!"

I set up the video game on the computer in my room, since I had a gaming system there, and Tom took a seat on the floor. Once finished, I gave him a console, and pressed play.

Tom let out a good natured groan. "Aliens flying spaceships, Midget? Really?"

"Hey, at least they aren't little green men," I protested.

"No, they're little red men flying green spaceships!" Tom snickered.

We still played several rounds. Tom was good. Then...

"Hey, Jake?" Tom spoke up, kind of tentatively. "Aftran wants to play you."

I nodded. "You'll still be able to..."

"Yeah, don't worry," he confirmed, taking my hand and squeezing it for a few seconds.

Ten minutes later, Aftran won three straight rounds. Easily.

"You're good, Aftran. Better than me," I admitted.

She laughed. "I had the advantage of watching your brother play and feeling him play before taking my turn," she explained.

I nodded. It made sense. "Extra practice before the big game, huh?"

"Essentially," Aftran conceded.

I watched Aftran for a minute, not saying anything, just observing her. "Is it weird for you, when you're not in control?"

Aftran shook Tom's head. "I thought it would be, especially when Cassie let me back in her head. Before you were able to rescue Tom, I mean. We-Cassie and I-shared control, at times, but mostly, I sat back inside her mind. There's a Yeerk instinct that tells us to take control, especially when we infest a new host for the first time. Some members of the Peace Movement believe it's evolutionary, since we coevolved with the Gedds, and I've never seen a Gedd attempt to fight when their Yeerk left their head."

"You were never at the home world," I ventured.

Aftran nodded Tom's head. "That's true. However, I've heard the stories of when Prince Seerow first encountered our kind. Even if they were revised by the empire, I can't believe that he would have given our race the technology to travel to other worlds if he witnessed our hosts in distress. Our elders, those born on the home world, claim that we had no physical restraints on our Gedd hosts. Moreover, the concept of breaking a host's mind wasn't even around until after the Quantum Virus was released. While our relationship with our Gedd hosts couldn't be truly symbiotic, it likely wasn't parasitic." After a pause, Aftran added, "My own Gedd, my first host, was very much used to a Yeerk's presence before I infested him, and his memory indicated that he hadn't suffered any mistreatment."

A few months ago, a year ago, I would have thought Aftran was in denial. If not outright lying. No sane person could possibly want a Yeerk in their head. I'd experienced it, after all. I knew how violating it was. How the Yeerk had complete power to make your life a living hell, and all you could do was scream and beg for them to stop, to get out of your head.

But, now? I mean, really, she'd been there, inside her Gedd host, and I hadn't. Moreover, I couldn't remember ever seeing Gedds in cages at the Yeerk Pool. So, maybe they were voluntary. Like the Taxxons.

Tom moved closer to me, placing an arm around my shoulder. "Hey. It's me, again. You okay?"

"Yeah. Just thinking." I smiled. Well, tried to. "A first, I know."

Tom rolled his eyes. "You've been spending way too much time with Marco."

"Tom, you know that we've always been best friends," I objected.

Tom nodded. "Okay. Clearly, his sense of humor has gotten worse over the years, and it's rubbed off on you," he teased.

"Maybe," I allowed. "But, don't tell him I said that. He'd think that this was a good thing."

Tom did the whole zipping lips and throwing away the key sign. "Mum's the word."

We talked for a little about nonsense stuff like that, the way we used to a couple of years ago.

Before Tom had been infested.

Then, almost gently, Tom announced that he had to head out to the Yeerk Pool. Aftran needed to feed. If she went the following day, it would mean waking Tom up way too early for a Monday, and they both avoided that whenever they could. Still, I felt a little disappointed. Tom must have known, because he wrapped me in a long hug.

"Be careful, Tom," I told him, feeling my voice crack, just a little. "You too, Aftran."

"Always," Tom promised, squeezing me tightly. "And, she'll leave my head when we get back-just to be safe."

I forced a nod. Not wanting to think of what would happen if another Yeerk got to Tom first. "Yeah. We should always do that, in case anything goes wrong."

I zoned out for a few hours, just playing a solitary video game. Then, I headed into the kitchen to wait for Tom. I realized that I hadn't had lunch yet, but in case Tom hadn't eaten when he was out, I figured I'd wait for him.

Tom arrived, looking like himself. Not that this mattered, since a Yeerk could do that just fine. Before saying anything, I saw Aftran leaving Tom's head, and he dropped her into a glass of water. I couldn't help it-I let out a long sigh of relief.

"Still her?" I managed a smile.

Tom squeezed my shoulder. "Yeah, still her."

I sat down. "You can't blame me for worrying, Tom."

"Never," he reassured me. "It's not like I don't, whenever we have to go there. I'm always afraid that it won't be her, even though no Yeerk would be foolish enough to attempt to steal a host that wasn't assigned to them."

I nodded. "Yeah. Still, we can't be too careful."

"No argument, there." Tom fished Aftran out of the water, and placed her to his ear. I just watched the whole process with a mix of fascination and, okay, a little wariness. At least Tom wouldn't lose control, this time.

"You eat lunch yet?" he asked me, after washing his hands at the sink. "I was thinking of making a couple of grilled cheese sandwiches."

"I haven't eaten."

He rolled my eyes at him. "Do you want me to make you any?"

I gave Tom what was probably a sheepish smile. "Sure. You make them way better than Mom and Dad." I paused. "Don't tell them I told you."

"Oh, they already know," he laughed. "Since they always seem to wait until I decide to make one, and then ask me to include them. You know," he continued, "I should show you the Tom recipe. It's not going to be too long before you and Cassie are officially married and all that."

"I'm fifteen years old," I pointed out, but I stood up, ready to watch Tom work his grilled cheese sandwich magic.

"So? As a near war hero, that's got to be, what? At least 40? You'll be an old man before too long," he teased me.

I rolled my eyes, but there was some truth to the statement. Sometimes, I felt like an old man. Not today, though.

I paid attention to what Tom was doing, and figured I could replicate it after a few more lessons. Since it was a family (okay, a Tom) recipe, I wasn't going to tell anyone else about it. Except, maybe, Cassie. But only if we ended up getting married.

We didn't do much talking as we ate lunch. The sandwiches were that good, and besides, we still had all afternoon and all evening to hang out. After we finished eating, we just leaned back in our chairs, happy and full.

Then, Tom was staring at me, looking...disturbed.

I frowned at him. "You okay?"

"Yeah. Mostly. I was just thinking of when I was infested with my old Yeerk, after Temrash, and when you'd been captured. Seeing Ax, as you, devour everything that wasn't nailed down," Tom explained. "Then, you know, finding out what happened. I'm sorry, Midget."

It was my turn to offer Tom some comfort. "Tom, it wasn't your fault. If it hadn't been for you fighting, I might have joined The Sharing. We all might have."

"You were still infested. With Temrash, of all Yeerks." Tom's voice sounded hoarse.

I moved my seat next to Tom, took his hand. He squeezed it like it was a life boat. "Tom. My being infested was some stupid freak accident, because of the Yeerks not wanting us to ruin their new facility for infesting patients. You had nothing to do with it."

Tom just raised my eyebrows. "Temrash had more than a little to do with that part."

"You didn't." I stared at him, probably looking fierce. "It was never you."

He nodded, just a little. "I just...hate to think of you that way. Under this control. Going through the fugue," Tom explained.

I couldn't completely hide a laugh at this. "The fugue was the easiest part, really. For me. I didn't feel any of the pain. I just watched Temrash, experiencing it. Maybe, if he hadn't been an enemy, it would have been harder." I shrugged, waiting for Tom to speak up or something. He didn't, so I plunged ahead. "I mean, I'm sure it would be torture for you or Cassie to watch Aftran go through that. But me? Temrash had stolen my body, was planning to turn in everyone to Visser Three, and spent the better part of the three days either trying to escape, or fantasizing about what Visser Three was going to do with my friends. Kind of hard to feel sorry for someone after that, no matter how much pain they're in. Especially since it wasn't like he felt any remorse about what he'd done. Especially, to you."

Tom squeezed my hand even harder. "He wouldn't. He was too..."

I paused, took a deep breath, and then plunged onward. I mean, we were being totally open with each other now, so, why not? "You know what the last words he said to me were, Tom?"

He put an arm around my shoulder. "What were they?"

"'So. You win, human,'" I quoted, in disgust. "Not, I'm sorry. Not even, you win, Jake. Just, you win, human."

"Yeah," Tom agreed, voice gentle. "I don't blame you for not feeling sorry for him when he died a painful death."

I had to smile. A little. "Sometimes, I wonder why he didn't just leave my head when it was obvious he was going to die. He stayed way later than he should have, you know? Yeerks aren't like humans. They don't fight when they know there's no way of winning."

There was a period of silence before Tom spoke.

"Aftran thinks that Temrash might have wanted to show you that the Yeerk empire would prevail," Tom began. "Plus, Yeerks who haven't actually suffered the fugue speculate that, when a Yeerk is so close to death, to inevitable death, the desire to transfer their memories to their host-no matter how much animosity is shared between the two-is greater than the desire to escape the pain."

"If that was his plan, it had the opposite result," I laughed, a little humorously. "I was more determined than ever to free you. It was just...figuring out how to do it, and keep you alive."

Tom nodded. Pointed to his head. "No complaints here, Midget."

I laughed. This time, for real. "I'm glad, Tom."

We sat there for a few minutes, not talking.

Tom broke the silence. "Hey, Midget?"

I looked up from my empty plate, nodding a little.

"I've been thinking, I mean, since you told me about Temrash."

"Yeah?"

"Well," Tom began. "If you ever want help from her..." He pointed to his head. "I mean..."

A part of me was dumbstruck that Tom would make the offer.

Another part of me wanted to run.

Then, there was the part of me, the normal, rational part, that said that Tom would never infest me against my will, and that Aftran was decent. That it might not be the worst idea in the world.

A/N: This was originally going to be the final chapter, but when I saw how long it was, I thought that here was a good stopping point. The next chapter-which will be the final one of this story-will include what the entire story has been heading towards. So, I suppose, it merits its own chapter.

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