Nobis ✴︎ Pavel Chekov

Chapter Twenty Two - Space Heater

       

Pavel has Emory's hand as he's running through engineering. The sensible part of him needs to pack but he tells himself that's not important; anything he needs can be replicated. Emory stumbles after him, a little breathless but grinning like crazy. Her heart is racing and she's ready for whatever Pavel is thinking of doing. He pulls her all the way to an air tram terminal and scans over the timetable.

"We have six minutes."

She looks at him breathlessly and takes a seat on the edge of the bench. He sits beside her and wraps his arms around her stomach. He rests his head tiredly on her back and closes his eyes, hoping his sleepiness will pass. It's only midday but he feels emotionally exhausted. He knows what he's doing will probably be incredibly detrimental to his mental health but he feels like four days with Emory will be totally worth it. He kisses her neck and she laughs. Turning around to face him.

"Is this going to mess you up?" She asks softly.

"You're worth getting messed up for," he mutters, kissing her cheek. She wants to ask where they're going but doesn't, a tiny bit scared to find out. The air tram pulls up after a few more minutes and they sit quietly towards the back, looking idly out the window. Pavel tells her they're getting off in three more stops and Emory just nods.

As soon as the air tram starts slowing, Emory is pretty sure of where she is. They're at the transporter bay, and she knows Pavel's planning to have them beamed somewhere else in the word. He smiles gently at her and takes her hand, leading her off the air tram and towards the platforms. Emory asks him if they should have packed a bag and he figures they can replicate clothes and other essentials once they're there. He doesn't clarify where 'there' is but Emory hardly expected him to. He squeezes her hand reassuringly as yellow lights start swirling around them and San Francisco fades from their view.

"Wh-where are we, Pavel?"

"Guess," he jests, moving off the transporter pad. It's freezing cold and she notices it as soon as they move.

"We're in Russia, aren't we?"

He smiles.

To Pavel, the days tick over when it's 5:45 pm. Exactly when he's expected to be on the ship. As he's checking into a hotel, not far outside of his Russian hometown, he realises the four days he has start to slowly count down. The mathematics side of his brain starts compressing the time down. 96 hours or 5,760 minutes or even 345,600 seconds. He decides that counting by the hours works best for him. 96 is a solid number and he tells himself he won't waste any of it.

They stay indoors and eat, Emory complaining about the cold and wanting to spend at least one of their nights just hanging out as they always did; the pretense that things are still remotely okay. Pavel enjoys just sitting with her across his lap. They fit together like two puzzle pieces despite being so different. Emory tells Pavel he's warm and she's glad that he'll be her personal heat source for the rest of the trip. He's glad he has a reason to keep her close.

"I might go shower," Pavel mutters, getting up and stretching his arms out in front of him.

"Maybe I could join you?" she smiles, a little amused at the reaction on his face. He nods mutely, with a slightly shocked smile. He extends his hand to help and pulls her up, walking with her towards the shower.

Emory isn't remotely shy when it comes to her body and Pavel is pretty glad for it. Even though they have seen each other unclothed before, neither of them really remember it. Pavel awkwardly fiddles with the shower temperature whilst Emory gets undressed. Emory knows what he's doing and tries to make it a little easier for him, asking him to unzip and unclip her. His hands are warm against her skin and he has to try and steady them from shaking a little. He doesn't know why he's nervous, he figures it might just be because of the situation they're in. She gets in first and starts running the water through her hair. He grins at her and undresses the rest of himself, stepping in beside her. She pulls him closer and laughs as he shakes his hair like a wet dog.  Emory kisses him then, pulling his lips down and wrapping her arms around him. Pavel's hands fall around her waist, he's too busy on trying to not press against her and make things too awkward. He has a feeling that she wouldn't care anyway but he still doesn't want to ruin the moment.

The shower ends and the night progresses with a lot of physical touch and cuddling. Pavel feels too good to feel stressed about going into space. He worries about the next few days. He worries that he'll fall apart as soon as he leaves Earth's atmosphere. Emory kisses his neck gently when she realises he's tense and it seems to help him a little. She rubs his back slowly and he thanks her in a low grunt, barely audible amongst the pillow his face is hiding in. She sits on his back and keeps going, quickly putting him to sleep. She smiles a little, lying next to him and curling up in his warm arms. She turns the lights to 0% and places a gentle kiss on his forehead. She swears she sees him smile a little.