Harry went over his calculations again and again. How could he be so reckless, so impulsive, so foolish. The Quantum slipstream drive had been dismantled after today's failure. Their golden ticket home and he wasted it.

The mess hall doors opened, and Harry looked up to see Captain Janeway. Kathryn Janeway, the best commanding officer he could have ever hoped for. He wondered why she was there after he gave his report of the incident. Perhaps he was going to get chewed out, thrown into the brig for the next 70 years, demoted to the rank of cadet! Or maybe-

"At ease. Am I interrupting?"

"No. I just came here to try to figure things out."

Harry explained his findings to Captain Janeway, how his original corrections were incorrect and would have endangered and possible destroyed Voyager. How he was investigating where the other phase corrections came from.

"Looks like we've got a guardian angel." said Janeway.

"Oh, I wish I could believe that."

"Believe it. His name is Harry Kim."

"Captain?"

Janeway sat next to Harry to explain her discovery as his Captain instead of his Commanding officer.

"Seven found a Starfleet security code embedded in the transmission. Yours."

"I'm telling you, I didn't send it."

"Not yet. The transmission had a temporal displacement. We believe it originated from the future. Ten, twenty years from now. We can't be sure."

"Wait a second. If I sent a message from the future and changed the past, then that future would no longer exist, right? So, how could I have sent the message in the first place? Am I making any sense?"

"My advice in making sense of temporal paradoxes is simple. Don't even try. To me, all that matters is that somewhere, somehow, sometime, you come through for us and to be honest I'm not surprised.

"Captain?" Harry looked at Janeway and saw nothing but an unmistakable sense of pride reflecting back at him.

"Harry, when I look back at our time in the Delta quadrant, there is something that I have always been able to rely on. Your service to this ship has been nothing but exceptional. You have always been courageous in the face of evil, loyal in times of unease and you have become an invaluable and irreplaceable member of my crew over these past 5 years. Therefore, as Captain of the USS Voyager, it is my pleasure to promote you to the rank of Lieutenant junior grade, with all the responsibilities and privileges therein. Congratulations Harry."

He couldn't believe what Janeway had said to him. "I-"

"I suggest you make your way to the bridge Lieutenant Kim. You wouldn't want to be late on your first shift." He'd been going over his phase corrections for so long, he hadn't realized it was about to be the night shift.

"Of course, Captain. Thank you so much!" As he ran out the mess hall, she gave a warm smile, knowing the second small surprise waiting for him. Harry entered the bridge ready to start only to see someone unexpectedly on the bridge.

"Tom what are you doing here, you never do the night shift?" Tom Paris gave a big smile beaming with pride for his promoted friend.

"Wanted to make a good first impression for the new lieutenant. What are your orders sir?"

As Harry sat down on the command chair, he made a promise to himself. He would make sure Voyager would make it back even if it took him another 20 years.

"Mr Paris, set a course for home".

/

Notes:

If I had a nickel for every time I did a mild rewrite of a star trek episode, I'd have two nickels. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice.

So funny story: I originally wrote this fanfic because I believe that Harry Kim should have been promoted at the end of Timeless since it was such a good Harry Kim episode in general. I also wrote it because there was no other fanfic that had written this concept...or so I had thought. I literally found out minutes before uploading this fanfic that another one exists. So if you want to read another Harry Kim gets promoted at the end of Timeless fanfic, read Timeless Rewrite by DestinChild.

My next fanfic will not only be a direct sequel to a previous one but also the start of a 5 story series! As always, hope you enjoy!