Bones shot at least 12 rounds. He had to go back and get bullets from the shop, but then quickly returned to the bales, in hopes of hiding away for a while. He could tell that he was getting more and more relaxed because the shots were getting easier and he was hitting his target dead on each time. It was all going pretty well.

"Where's Mr. Chekov?"

Bones cringed at the black, velvety voice that snuck up behind him without warning. He quickly wheeled around and held the gun up to the stranger. That damn stranger needed to leave. Bones was sick of him.

"He's off." Bones hissed.

"Off, you mean…in his—I mean your bedroom?" The stranger asked, holding his hands behind his back, looming over Bones.

"No…" Bones looked away from the figure.

"Ah, so he is…You know that the days are drawing closer until his father returns?" It asked, taking a step away from Bones and instead, circled him. Bones dropped the gun, but never took his finger off the trigger.

"That is known…" Bones whispered.

"It signifies your time left in this town…or alive. Who knows really?" The figure chuckled lightly.

"Okay buddy, times up, who are you and how do you know who I am?" Bones asked. The stranger stopped in front of him.

"You'll learn that soon enough. No worries." It shrugged lazily, removing his hands from behind his back. "You see, you have worse problems to worry about. Russia…the money…your little family. I suppose that you wouldn't have much of a choice to leave or not if they died…" The figure talked with his hands, throwing them into certain gestures.

Threatened, Bones whipped out his gun from his side and trained it on the person, finger on the trigger. The black figure chuckled and carefully lowered the barrel of the gun down with a gloved forefinger.

"You can't shoot me…remember? Captain's orders." The figure reminded him.

"He doesn't even know you. I could shoot you here and no one would ever know." Bones hissed, bringing up gun back up.

"Yes, indeed you could do that, but I have people…men that work for me who reside in this little town. They would notice my absence." The figure told him. "Then they'd tell the Sheriff's little pet, and he'd find me out here, gunshot wound."

Bones dropped the gun to his side, knowing that the figure could be right. And he wasn't going to risk his skin. "Get out of town. Just go." Bones shooed the figure off, but it did not leave.

"I come and go as I please, but trust me…" The figure leaned into Bones' ear. "I will be there to see you fall to your knees. Trust me, I want to watch your demise…see the life leave yours eyes." It whispered. Bones drew away, chills running up and down his spine.

"You bastard." Bones muttered. The figured didn't say another word. He just started to run. Running as far out from the town border as he could and hell, he was a fast runner. Bones watched as the black fabrics drifted behind the figure as the dust swallowed it up all together.

Bones turned towards the town, looking at it. It was quiet, nothing was disrupted. He could hear the slight drifting notes of a piano being played somewhere. It was peaceful. No one knew that hatred that lay inside, no one knew that it was going to turn to hell when the Sheriff came back. Bones knew it was time to go back now. He ran off towards the town center, pumping his legs as fast as he could, the wind blowing in his face, kicking up dust and dirt, but he ignored it, because he needed to get back home.

He entered the town square, slowing down to a short walk. People glanced at him and stared. Others talked amongst themselves, while their eyes still tracked Bones to the Sheriff's house. He hated the judgment from this town. No matter how badly he wanted to throw up his middle fingers to the town, giving them his "fuck you" attitude, he knew that he couldn't. It would be dangerous. Them guessing that he liked other men, then angering them even further but flipping them off…it wasn't the best choice to make.

He hurried inside the house, closing the door behind him. He looked around the house and let out a large sigh. "Pavel!" He called out through the house. There was no response. He was probably still asleep. Smiling, Bones ran up the stairs and quickly entered their room, excited to see Pavel once again. But when he opened the door and looked at the bed, there was no breathing figure. The sheets were spread wildly all over the bed, nearly wrapped around one of the bed posts.

"PASHA?!" Bones called out frantically. "Pashsa! Dammit! Where are you?!" He cried out. A muffled sound came from the closet beside the door. Bones hurried and rushed over to it, throwing the doors open.

Pavel was sitting crouched in the corner, arms around his knees, eyes wide. He looked up at Bones and jumped up from his place in the dark corner, leaping into Bones' arms, who was nearly caught off balance by the weight.

"Why were you hiding in the closet?!" Bones asked, hugging Pavel closely.

"I heard someone eenter through ze front door. I vas scared and I heed in ze closet." Pavel told him.

"Someone? Did you see who?" Bones asked.

"No! I heard zem zough! Zey vere coming up ze stairs!" Pavel cried.

"Shh…It's alright kid. Come on, let's sit down." Bones ushered Pavel over to the bed, sitting him down on it. Pavel instantly collapsed onto Bones. "Did you get enough sleep?"

"Yes, but I vas rudely awakened vhen I heard ze intruder in the ze house!" Pavel exclaimed. Bones knew that Pavel wasn't yelling at him, he was just scared.

"I know, but they're gone now. You're okay." Bones assured him. Pavel shook his head on Bones' lap, turning on his back to look up at Bones.

"Vhat deed you and Jim Kirk talk about?" Pavel asked.

"Just about…Russia…and being more careful around the town…together."

"You spoke about Russia!" Pavel quickly shot up, looking Bones in the eyes. "Vhat deed he say? Tell me!" He bounced up and down on the bed, too excited to control his emotions.

"He said that we need to talk with the group about traveling there…and that…it might be difficult. Sneaking you out." Bones told Pavel. Pavel stopped jumping around and his eyes fell.

"V-Vhat deed he say about sneaking me out?"

"That it would be extremely difficult…sneaking you out might result in one of us getting in trouble, or worse." Bones tried to break the news slowly. Telling a kid that he might not ever make it back to his home country and he would be stuck in this hell hole of a town would be difficult.

"But…but…why?" Pavel was at a loss for words, confused and befuddled.

"We don't have the money…your father is too controlling. He would never let you go." Bones himself felt like breaking down into a sobbing mess, but he had to stay strong for Pavel. The kid looked like he would break into a million pieces if Bones said one more word.

"We can try! Please! I vant to get out!" Pavel cried, grabbing Bones' arm. "Please!"

"Pasha—" Bones started. But Pavel had gotten off the bed and was wildly pacing around the room, starting to breath quicker than normal, his movement were erratic and frightening.

"I can't! YA ne mogu! YA prosto ne mogu! YA ne khochu ostat'sya zdes'! Kosti, zaberi menya ostyuda! Pozhaluysta!" Pavel cried out in stressed Russian. "I—I-I need you to take me away! Now! Please! I need to go!" Pavel was soon becoming incomprehensible and he was sinking down the floor, hands in his hair, ready to tear it out.

"Pasha…it's okay. Shh…come here." Bones hushed his voice and slid off the bed, walking towards Pavel.

"Stop! Stop! I don't know you! Go away!" Pavel cried, tears flowing out of his eyes.

"Pasha…it's me…Leo." Bones tried to coax him away from the corner.

"Stop! Stop talking like that! You're not you! Go away!" He cried, backing further into the corner until it would let him go no farther.

"Kid, listen to—" Bones reached forward to touch Pavel on the shoulder, but Pavel aggressively swatted at his hands towards Bones, clawing his face. Bones recoiled in pain, holding his cheek. "Dammit Pavel!" Bones yelled, he took his hand away and roughly grasped Pavel by the shoulder, holding him still, looking a frightened and psychotic Pavel in the eyes.

"Pasha. Breathe. You're having a panic attack. Breathe." Bones had seen these before in the outlaws he had traveled with before. They were freak out right before a robbery and then they would ditch. This exact same thing was happening to Pavel.

"Leo…Leo…please…Bozhe moy." Pavel whined, becoming more calm and collected.

"Just breathe kid. It's going to be fine. Trust me." Bones got onto the ground and sat beside Pavel, wrapping an arm around him. Pavel's shoulders were shaking horribly.

"I eem sorry…I eem so sorry." Pavel whispered over and over agan.

"It's fine. It's fine. Don't worry." Bones rubbed his thumb gently over Pavel's shoulder.

"I made you bleed. I am sorry." Pavel whimpered. Bones looked at Pavel with confusion, putting his hand up to is cheek, feeling the sticky warm blood slowly oozing down his face. He quickly wiped it off and ran his hand over his pants.

"It's fine. I'm used to bleeding. Don't worry." Bones assured him.

"I just vant to go back to Russia. So bad…I deedn't even ask to come here. I vas forced here." Pavel remained crying, resting his head on Bones' shoulder.

"That's why I want to get you out." Bones told Pavel, brushing his golden hair back from his face. "I made that promise. And I am going to try and keep it."

"I know, you don't have to keep ze promise. Ve can stay here. And like you said, ve have to be careful." Pavel shrugged.

"No. I don't like it here, you don't like it here. None one does. I'm going to get you out." Bones hugged Pavel close to him and set his cheek down on Pavel's head, brushing his hand over Pavel's shoulder lightly.

"Zank you. Ve can try. Say, vhen do ve have zat meeting vith ze rest of ze group?" Pavel asked into Bones' chest.

"Tomorrow…We'll talk to them tomorrow. For now, all we can do is wait." Bones told him.

"Vhat are ve going to do now?" Pavel asked. The shaking had stopped and Pavel was breathing normally. Blood was still slowly coming out of the scratch on his cheek, but he ignored it.

"Rest. Relax…I think that's all we need. Just some good ole relaxation." Bones closed his eyes and felt the curls of Pavel's head brush up on his cheek. "Aw shit…I think I got blood in your hair. I'm sorry Pasha." Bones sat up and apologized. Pavel looked up at Bones with bright blue eyes.

"Eet ees okay. Relax." Pavel repeated Bones' words. Bones hugged Pavel and returned to his normal position, closing his eyes.

"Thanks kid." Bones smiled and rested his cheek against Pavel even closer, feeling his eyelids grow heavy and his body relaxed as he drifted off to sleep.

Bones once again had another nightmare. This one was more painful.

He was hanging from his own Black Cross, looking down as the fire started to crawl towards his feet. The flames were a bright orange and blood red with hints of green smoking up and blinding him in the eyes.

"Pavel! Scotty!" Bones cried out, his voice weak as the smoke slithered into his lungs. He coughed and blood came out in chunks, landing on the ground before him.

"They've gone to Russia. Without you." Bones heard the stranger's voice from down below. Bones squinted through his watering eyes and the green smoke to see the black clad stranger waltzing up to the base of the Cross

"No! They couldn't have! I orchestrated the whole damn thing!" Bones yelled from up on the Cross, choking on his own blood.

"But you promised little Pasha that he would get back to him home country. You never said you would." The stranger sneered as he said Bones' nickname for Pavel, hissing through his teeth.

"He wanted me to come with him!" Bones yelled down, spitting blood onto the stranger. The figure stood back and glared up at Bones.

"You didn't want to do that." He growled, raising a hand and snapped his finger. A plume of white smoke billowed up beside the stranger. Bones struggled to see what was coming out of the smoke and was shocked to see Pavel, standing there in traditional Russian garb, looking up at Bones with shock on his face. When Bones stared back, something seemed off about Pavel. Something was wrong with him. His appearance irked Bones.

"Pavel! Is that you?!" Bones cried out, trying to wriggle away from the cross, but the nails on his hands and feet pulled and strained him, causing him even more pain.

"Leonard? Leonard McCoy?" Pavel's usually light, happy voice was changed with a deeper, thicker Russian accent.

"Yes! Pavel, it's me! Are you okay? How are Scotty and Jim?" Bones asked. Pavel stepped forward, looking up at Bones.

"I remember you…vhen I vas sewenteen…You stepped foot in Enterprise. I remembered ze first time I saw you. I vas een love. Of course, I deed not know vhat love vas. Zen you told me that you vould take me to Russia." Pavel stopped and glared at Bones.

"You made it, didn't you?" Bones asked, frightened about what Pavel was saying.

"Yes. But vithout you. You lied to me. You said zat you vere a good man. You keel people for a leeving! Vhat vere you zinking, stepping inside zat damn town?!" Pavel yelled. That's when it hit Bones. This was Pave, all grown up.

"No! No, I would never—" Bones tried to speak, but Pavel interrupted him.

"Sh! No, I have a family now." Pavel told Bones quietly. Bones choked, and tears began to flow down his face.

"No! Pasha, you and I were supposed to be a family!" Bones cried out. "Goddammit! You…you told me!"

"I have my own family now…" Pavel sighed and snapped his fingers just as the stranger did. Beside him, a woman and two children appeared. The woman had golden brown hair that cascaded down her shoulders. The children had Pavel's curly hair and blue eyes.

"But…but, women, you and I—" Bones was confused and lost, nearly wanting to die on the cross by himself.

"I had to settle down." Pavel responded.

"Where's Scotty! And Jim?" Bones asked, desperate to know that some part of his life was still in tact.

"I do not know. Zey left vhen we landed in Russia. Left me alone." Pavel muttered. Bones' heart dropped.

"Pavel, kid, you have to tell that bastard to get me down." Bones pleaded.

"I eem not a kid anymore." Pavel shook his head and turned around with his family and they disappeared.

Bones was left hanging on the cross with the stranger, who had been watching the whole exchange quietly. He stepped up to meet Bones, looking him in the eye, which was a difficult feet when he was ten feet in the air, suspended from a cross.

"Well, it looks like he's doing just fine…without you. So if you don't mind…" The stranger turned around and began to walk way. "I'll be leaving you now."

"Don't, don't you dare leave me! I will destroy you!" Bones yelled from the Cross.

"Good luck. You're stuck up there." The stranger replied happily, disappearing into the thin air. Bones wriggled on the cross screaming and yelling. He couldn't think of anything to do or say. He screamed and shouted, blood dripping from his mouth.

"KAHN!" The word…name, whatever it was, escaped Bones' lips. He wasn't sure what the word meant, but it just seemed right to say, so he screamed it at the top of his lungs.

A moment passed by and the stranger came back. He standing there, looking up at Bones. It was just them by their selves.

"What did you say?" The stranger asked. Bones smirked.

"Kahn. Why? Is that some secret passcode, or what?" Bones felt better. He was getting at something here. Maybe he could convince the stranger to let him down from the Cross.

"It's a name…not many people know it…but I do." The stranger told him. "It's my name."

"Oh so it's your name? Thought I hit a goddamned nerve there." Bones was feeling more confident, even though fire was still at his feet and he was hanging from a cross.

"Yes. It's not known here in the States, but more over in Europe. You see, I'm more of a…European outlaw. I've told you too much already, I think I should go this time." The stranger's meeting was quick and he snapped his fingers.

Bones woke up with a large gasp, being able to breathe clean air into his lungs once again. His shoes were on and he wasn't burning. He was laying face down on the floor of his bedroom. He sat up and wiped the drool from his mouth. Pavel had disappeared.

He jumped up and ran out of the room, down the stairs, stopping in the foyer. There was distant humming coming from the back of the house. Something foreign. Bones ran to the back of the house and came upon Pavel, standing at the stove wearing a large button up shirt that was far too big for him. There were no pants and his hair was wet and floppy.

Bones walked up behind Pavel and wrapped his arms around Pavel's waist. He rested his head on Pavel's shoulder, listening to the kid hum. Pavel wasn't startled by the immediate contact from Bones. He welcomed it.

"Hello Leo. Deed you sleep vell?" Pavel asked as he shifted something bubbly and thick around in a pan.

"Uh…sure. Yeah. How about you Pasha?" Bones murmured.

"Just fine. Zank you."

"Where'd you go?"

"I left a couple minutes after you feel asleep." Pavel confessed. "I needed take a shower and zen I felt hungry so right now, I eem fixing somezing up for myself." He explained.

"Good to know." Bones smiled and planted a small kiss on Pavel's cheek before stepping away to sit on a chair and watch Pavel from a distance. His frame was so small and breakable, but he had proven that he could stand up for himself. He would never want to harm Pavel though.

"Vould you vant to eat?" Pavel turned around and asked, holding the pan slightly askew in his hands.

"Naw, I'm good kid. You can eat." Bones smiled. He would cherish every moment he had with Pavel. The dream had scared him into a million pieces. Bones wanted to test Pavel in everyway possibly, but he could never do that to himself or to Pavel.

"Alright!" Pavled bounced to the sink and put the pan beside it, opening a cabinet with china in it. He carefully stood on his tiptoes trying to reach a plate to put his mystery food on.

"You need help?" Bones asked, rising from his seat.

"Da please." He responded. Bones got up and walked over to the cabinets, reaching up to get a plate for Pavel. He grabbed one and set it down beside him, walking back to the table. "Zank you…Leo, are you feeling alright?" Pavel poured the odd food onto the plate and gracefully walked over to the table, sitting next to Bones.

"Yeah, I'm feeling fine." Bones shrugged.

"No you are not. Somezing ees vrong, vhat ees eet?" Pavel asked, scooping the unknown food into his mouth. Bones shifted in his seat, not sure whether to tell Pavel about his dream or not.

Pavel set his fork down and looked at Bones, scooting over onto his lap, wrapping a lanky arm around Bones' head, brushing his hair. "Vhat's vrong?" He whispered into Bones' ear.

"I..I had another dream." Bones shrugged Pavel off, turning towards the table.

"Oh! Vhat happened?" Pavel asked.

"You were…older and you had a family." Bones shuddered at the thought.

"Vith you?" Pavel asked worringly.

"No. With a woman. You had two children. And you hated me. I left you in Russia by yourself." Bones cringed, thinking about what he had seen on the cross.

"A voman? Vhy deed you leave me?" Pavel whimpered.

"I don't know. Please, it was just a dream. I was hanging on a cross…and that man that broke into our house, I know his name now. Pavel…these dreams will help me!" Bones exclaimed. Pavel wasn't sure what to say.

"Zat's good?" He shrugged.

"Kid, it's wonderful!" Bones smiled and grabbed Pavel around the waist, kissing him straight on the lips. Pavel smiled and wrapped his arms around Bones' head, turning his head, pressing forward into the kiss, nearly straddling Bones' lap. He forgot about the nasty food and focused more on Bones and his tastier mouth.