Nobis ✴︎ Pavel Chekov

Chapter Twenty Eight - Recovery

      
Sulu can tell something is up but he doesn't ask straight away. He's recently had to adjust to Pavel's new mood, one he can't really put a label on. He's not exactly upset, it's something a little different to that. Sulu wonders if it's regret. He finally asks what's on Pavel's mind and he gives him a look.

"You will not believe who got transferred onto the ship."

"Emory?"

"Not Emory."

Sulu has to think for a minute. He goes through a mental list of people that have put Pavel on edge and instantly one name comes up.

"It was Irina wasn't it...?"

Pavel nods and Sulu gives him an 'uh-oh' sort of look. "Are you going to talk to her?"

"I already have."

"Oh."

Pavel takes his time in catching up Sulu on their conversation. He's still a shaky from it and he's not entirely sure why. He just didn't expect her to be so calm and collected. She'd planned out what she was going to say, that's a certainty. He has a shower to calm himself down a little and Sulu tells him to try not to fret over it too much.

The next person to notice that something's up with Pavel is actually the captain. He knew that Pavel was pretty broken hearted after Emory, even if he never admitted it. After their shift Kirk asks Pavel to accompany him. They don't head to anywhere in particular but Pavel covers what actually happened with Irina as well as their recent conversation and her being transferred to the ship. Kirk knows that Pavel was very touchy about her and is reasonably surprised he made it through their conversation. Kirk tells him to take it easy, only talk to her if he's sure he can. Pavel nods and thanks him, heading over to engineering.

Scotty goes to ask Pavel about whether he's put anymore thought into talking to Irina when Pavel tells him what happened. This is the third time he's told the story but it still makes him anxious every time he has to relive talking to her again. He keeps getting flashbacks to the moment he walked in and found them, the moment his heart broke in two. He could feel himself shattering as they noticed and scrambled to cover themselves. He remembers walking out of the room and hearing her call out his name, and the voice inside his head telling him to do anything he could to forget what had just happened. Scotty pulls him out of his trance and he apologises, feeling his chest tightening a little.

"You alright lad?"

"Yeah, it's still just sinking in."

Scotty gives him a firm pat on the back before they start working, Pavel making sure he's focused enough to take his mind off everything. Pavel's getting to a very high skill level for engineering. After studying it at Starfleet on their break and working closely with Scotty, Pavel could choose to work in engineering and Scotty would approve him. He stills wants to improve more but he thinks he's better suited to navigating.

Pavel collapses onto his bed and groans, Sulu rolling his eyes briefly from the other room. He knows the Russian is working himself too hard, thinking too much and could probably use the help of someone like Emory. Sulu messages her and updates her on what's happened, adding that she doesn't have to give any thought to it if she doesn't want to. He gets a reply not long after and she says that she's surprised Pavel didn't break down after seeing Irina. She tells Sulu about how he freaked out when he told her about their breakup. He was a mess and Emory is surprised he held it together through a face to face conversation. She asks if he's doing okay, something which she reconsiders before pressing send. Sulu says for now but points out he could probably use someone more understanding to talk to but she doesn't volunteer. She doesn't plan to talk to him any time soon.