Chapter Twenty-Eight Part II

A/N: Please read the following previous chapter before this one, as they're posted at the same time.

***

Tom was both relieved and slightly dismayed when Harry was deposited through the chute. He had no idea how long it had been since he had been out of this prison- hours? Days? All he knew was that this place was hell, and not the type of place for someone like Harry. He, on the other hand, knew all too well what prison was like. It was funny really, how easy it had been to forget the scorn of other men, the claustrophobia, the hunger and the intense feeling of entrapment that accompanied being a prisoner. But those memories returned as easily as they had left, and with it an increasing feeling of turmoil and anxiety, which seemed to be amplified by the implant on the back of his head. By means of relief, he kept scratching it, trying to gauge those feelings.

Harry sat beside him in their make-shift den. He tentatively kept touching the wound on his face from where Tom had punched him, whilst trying to absorb the information that Tom had told him: they had been deliberately accused of setting off a bomb, and their chances of escaping weren't very good. That and the fact that they had a clamp on their heads that was liable to push them on the wrong side of grouchy.

"It's just typical. We somehow stumble into prison, and I end up being everyone's prison bitch."

Tom snorted. "I'm sorry about that, Harry. Really."

Harry sighed. "I guess it's better to be your bitch than everyone else's." A burning sensation started emanating from the clamp on his head, and he too started to scratch at it. "This clamp is starting to drive me insane, Tom. I'm tempted to rip it off-,"

"Don't," Tom interrupted, sternly. "It's not worth the risk, Har. Just try and focus on something else. Something positive."

"That's kind of hard right now," he grumbled. Just then, his stomach started rumbling. "I guess I'm kind of hungry. I really could do with a five-course meal right about now."

"Five? Make that eight. I don't know how long it's been since I've eaten."

"We'd have an all day feast," Harry carried on. "Of course, it would be a pretty sad affair if it were just the two of us. We'd have to invite other people." Harry took the moment to test out a theory. "We could invite the Delaney sisters," he suggested.

Disinterest showed on Tom's face.

"Or we could invite B'Elanna," Harry suggested instead. "Who incidentally will kill us if we ever return to Voyager, for yet again endangering our lives."

Unwittingly, Tom's eyes lit up at the mention of her name, confirming Harry's suspicions.

"That sounds like a good idea," Tom mused. "The dining bit, not the killing part. We could have a feast on The Bold Ego. And I'd promise not to sing."

They both gave out a laugh, and then immediately fell into a heavy silence. The clamp began to feel like a hammer to the head.

Tom pressed his hand to the clamp, trying to suppress the raw feelings of emotions it was making him feel.

He tried to distract himself. "Harry?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you remember when you asked me what B'Elanna meant to me?"

If there was room in his head amongst the sea of ants that seemed to be residing there, Harry would have mentally grinned. "I vaguely recall, yeah."

"And I said that she meant nothing to me? Well…what if I said that I've changed my mind?"

"I would say, I wish I had betted on that. Because I would be a very rich man right now."

Tom had to suppress a surge of irritation at Harry's joking words, which he knew was down to the clamp. "No, seriously?"

Harry thought about it. "I would ask you why you've changed your mind. Up until recently, you were adamant that you weren't a one-woman kind of guy. What's changed?"

Tom pondered this for a moment. "I don't know," he finally answered. "I guess I have. She sees something in me…makes me want to be a better person." Tom snorted. "God, that sounds sappy."

Harry snorted back. "Coming from you, I'd definitely say so."

"Thanks. Your unrelenting faith in me is, as ever, immeasurable."

"You're welcome."

"Do you think that B'Elanna would ever take a chance on me?" Tom asked, a hint of uncertainty in his voice.

Harry pretended to deliberate this. "I think that there's a slight chance that she might possibly consider seeing you in that sort of light."

***

B'Elanna sat in the mess hall, nursing her much-deserved mug of coffee. She'd finally finished her work in Engineering, and was taking the time to relax. She wondered if Tom and Harry were back yet. From what she knew, most of the crew had returned. She let out a groan when she saw Ensign Bristow had entered the room and spotted her. He gave her a wave, and she gave a much less enthusiastic one back. It wasn't that she didn't like him, more that his exuberance and over-confidence was a little bit too much for her. He started to make a beeline for her, but just as he was approaching, Neelix cut in and got to her first. Slightly dismayed, Bristow went and sat somewhere else.

She looked at him in eternal gratitude. "Hi, Neelix," she greeted with a smile.

Neelix greeted her with a sombre expression. "Lieutenant," he acknowledged. "I have some news that I thought you should know."

Her smile fell. "What kind of news?"

Neelix seemed to hesitate. "Tom and Harry have been implicated in a bombing on Akritiri that's killed forty-seven people. The Captain is adamant that they haven't done it, yet they have been incarcerated, but we don't know where. The outlook doesn't seem too good right now."

B'Elanna dropped her head in her hands and sighed. Why did this keep on happening to them?

"I thought I should tell you because they're your friends," Neelix informed her. "And I'm really sorry about what's happened."

"It's not your fault, Neelix. And thank you. I guess I better make my way to the Bridge to see what I can do."

She discarded her coffee, and headed off.

An Auckland penitentiary, imprisoned by Baneans and now this- Tom seemed to have a penchant for ending up in prison, and Harry nearly always ended up with him. She didn't know what it was that kept making the two of them end up in such places, but if they ever returned, she was asking the Captain to put them in the brig for the rest of the journey.

***

Antsy. He was definitely feeling that right now.

Tom wanted to get out of here. Needed to. His previous time in prison back on Earth had taught him that he never wanted to return to such a place again. The fact that he had stumbled into a few Delta Quadrant-style prisons since then, wasn't exactly lost on him. But this was the first time that he had felt so on edge in prison. Of course, no other prison had attached a neurological implant on his head before. And as far as he was concerned, he'd never been stabbed in prison before either.

His hands were placed firmly on the wound inflicted by one of the prisoners. It was a superficial wound, not severe enough to cause him to bleed to death, but deep enough for it to hurt. A lot. It drained him of the energy to think clearly – and to move. Just like that, his dream of getting back on Voyager seemed less attainable.

He watched as Harry desperately tried to negotiate with Zio. Harry had a good plan, but in all honesty, he didn't think it would work. The plan was too complicated; too risky. Then again, maybe that was just the clamp talking.

"Remember our deal?" he suddenly asked as Harry set him down on the ground.

"What deal?"

"If it comes down to it, you're going to save yourself, right?"

Harry gave him a derisive look.

"If you see a chance, just go. Don't come back for me," he carried on.

"Like hell I'm leaving you behind! That's stupid talk, and you know it, Tom."

"Harry-," Tom began in warning tones.

"Don't 'Harry' me!" he interrupted, anger threaded in his words. "You wouldn't leave me behind if I asked. So don't expect me to do it just because you asked."

"If you come for me, I'll only hold you behind."

"I'm willing to take that risk. Don't you want to get back to Voyager? Don't you want to see B'Elanna again?"

"Well, yeah-,"

"Then shut up with your noble talk. I'm getting back to Voyager, and you're coming with me. Even if I have to drag you back."

Tom could only look at him and smile slightly. "Thanks, Har."

"You can thank me later. If we ever get back, you can start by telling B'Elanna how you feel."

"Yes, sir."

***

Harry was starting to lose his mind. Zio's self-righteousness and Buddhist-like preaching weren't exactly helping. Coupled with the fact that Zio was telling him that he needed to kill Tom to help himself, wasn't exactly boding well for him.

He didn't know what was up with everyone. First Tom was telling him to leave him behind, and now some other guy was telling him to kill Tom. Had the universe gone mad?

When he got back to see Tom after discovering that they were in fact imprisoned on a spaceship, Harry found his friend disorientated and in a weakened state of mind. Whether it was the clamp or his injury, or both, he wasn't sure; all he knew was that Tom wasn't in a good way, and didn't look like he'd get better.

It was then the panic started to ebb in. His proclamations that he would not leave Tom were easy to say to him. But now, knowing that Tom's life was dangling precariously on a tight-rope, made that decision a little harder. Harry would do anything to ensure the safe return of Tom. Yet he wasn't sure whether Tom was going to make it long enough for him to carry out his words.

Watching Tom accuse him of stabbing him was hard, especially when he began his frenzied attack on him. Harry's mind wasn't exactly a coherent mass either, and he found it hard to deal with him in a calm way. As Tom fitted, Harry was suddenly overcome with the urge to strike him.

This thought shocked him, and he immediately threw down the bandages he was administering and got up to walk away. Whatever happened, he wasn't going to let the clamp take over his emotions. And he certainly wasn't going to hurt Tom.

Just as he stood up to leave, Tom's voice stopped him.

"Harry! What's happening to me?" he asked, sounding for a moment, like normal.

Harry closed his eyes momentarily and turned to face him. "It's going to be okay," he reassured him.

"Harry, don't leave me," Tom called out with child-like vulnerability.

Harry's shoulders sagged.

As if he intended to.

***

Back on Voyager, it felt like time was standing still.

B'Elanna had spent the last few hours on the Bridge, scanning for traces of trilithium, in order to catch the bomb culprits. What she really wanted to do was find Tom and Harry, but she reluctantly accepted that she had to do this in order to find them.

If they ever got their hands on the petaQ that was responsible for all this, she was going to rip them apart. Slowly.

***

Tom was finding it hard to remember where he was, and was having difficulty distinguishing reality from dreams.

Where was B'Elanna? Why wasn't she here? She should be here, she should be talking to him. She'd help him forget the pain. All she had to do was speak to him- that always made everything okay...

Suddenly, he remembered the bracelet he bought her. Struggling with pain, he somehow managed to retrieve it from his waistcoat pocket, but was devastated to find it in pieces.

"It's broken," he whispered to himself, as he noticed that the gold-looking links had broken in places.

He placed it back in his pocket, but was determined to fix it. He looked around, trying to find something to piece it back together.

Immediately, he spotted the pipe Harry had left behind. Maybe if he took it apart, he'd find something in there to fix the bracelet...

***

Harry returned to the den, broken and defeated. Zio's ranting and ravings were getting to him, as was the recent ridiculing by the rest of the prisoners. He was fed up of them- fed up of this. He felt the increasing need to take out his anger on somebody - anybody- and hoped to God that Tom was sleeping when he got back.

But Tom wasn't sleeping. Instead, he had in his hands the pipe- the only link Harry had to getting the two of them back to Voyager.

"Hello, Harry," Tom chirped at him, as he examined the now broken pipe.

Something inside him snapped.

He lunged for Tom, taking hold of the pipe and pounding him with it. How dare Tom take apart the pipe! How dare he break it! How dare he- after everything that Harry had gone through! Zio was right; Tom was a liability. Harry wouldn't make it out of here with Tom in tow, and he intended to rectify that problem.

Possessed by a blind rage, Harry continued his attack on Tom; Tom's cowering and look of complete vulnerability having no effect on him.

Then just like that, Harry's surge of madness crept away, and all that was left behind was a broken-looking Tom, and a pathetic-feeling Harry.

The pipe held up high, ready to strike Tom, fell from his hands, but Tom continued to look at him in fear.

Appalled with himself, Harry let out a choked sob. He couldn't believe he'd just been about to kill his best-friend!

"I'm sorry, Tom," he said trying to console his friend. "I am so sorry."

But Tom continued to look on at him with fear, his gaze only dropping to pick up the fallen pipe.

From behind him, Zio started cackling.

"I knew you didn't have the guts to do it," he said with scorn.

Harry threw him a dirty look.

"Come on, Tom," he said. "We're getting out of here."

Harry reached for him, but Tom gave him a look of uncertainty. Harry pleaded with his eyes, and finally, Tom acquiesced and allowed Harry to put his arm around his waist.

"Where are you going?" Zio demanded.

"We're getting out of here."

"You'll never make it!" he yelled at him.

Harry turned to momentarily face him. "We are getting out of here," he informed him. "Or we are going to die trying."

With that, Harry dragged Tom out of the den, leaving Zio behind. But when he stepped out, he was confronted by the rest of the prisoners.

"We want him," one of them drawled, pointing to Tom.

"We want his stuff," another added.

"He's not dead!" Harry cried. "You aren't taking him or his stuff!"

"Don't be so sure," said the first one.

Something inside Harry erupted. He'd been through a lot in the last few days: being imprisoned, almost being beaten up by the prisoners, being starved, almost killing his best friend- enough was enough. He was not letting these prisoners get them, not now.

He placed Tom on the ground, and picked up the pipe in Tom's hands.

"BACK OFF!" he yelled, menacingly wielding the pipe.

The men continued to sneer at him.

"This man is my friend," Harry started in dangerous tones. "And nobody touches him."

The main man held his gaze, and Harry didn't break it. He wasn't sure what would happen next- he knew neither him nor Tom was a match for this gang. But he sure as hell wasn't going to give up without a fight.

Suddenly the klaxon started ringing, signalling the arrival of new prisoners.

Distracted by this, the prisoners ran over to 'greet' the newcomers.

Relieved, Harry walked over to a more sedate Tom, who was looking at him in awed appreciation.

"We're okay for now," Harry reassured him.

Tom nodded.

Harry's head turned to the chute, wondering who the poor fool was coming down it.

He was more surprised that ever to see Captain Janeway sliding down, a massive weapon in hand.