Nobis ✴︎ Pavel Chekov

Chapter Thirty Seven - Out of my Head

Pavel's asleep when his PADD buzzes beside him. It's Emory and he accepts the call, rubbing his eyes while it loads.

"Oh my lord, your hair," Emory grins. Pavel squints at the screen and realises his hair is a total mess. He grins and tries to fix it up a little, asking her how she's going. She's made some progress with study and thinks she should do alright for her last exam. She stills needs Pavel's help, which he's glad to provide. He explains the content without even thinking or looking at a textbook and she takes down notes as he talks. She looks back over her notes and thanks him again. She asks how he's been going with Irina. He gives her a look and she asks what happened.

"She got completely wasted, like the most drunk I've ever seen her. Ever. McCoy called me into his office because she wouldn't speak English and her drunk Russian can barely be picked up by a translator. I could figure out most of it because I'm used to hearing her drunk rambles but last night I barely understood her. And that wasn't even the bad part."

"What did she say when she was that drunk?"

"Well she started by asking Captain Kirk to impregnate her. We took her back to her room and I asked why she'd been drinking so much. She told me she was upset because she missed me and wanted me back, then just went and kissed me. It just got worse from there, I went to leave but she started throwing up and she was crying into my shoulder then she had vomit on her shirt so she just started stripping down and I left after that but God it was uncomfortable."

"Oh Jesus, you had a rough night. I can't believe she kissed you. I'm surprised you didn't get up and run."

"I was just shocked and then she said she was going to be sick and I felt like I had to help her."

"And she stripped?"

"Yeah, she pointed out it's nothing I haven't seen, which is true. Doesn't make the situation any easier for me though."

"Are you okay? You sound a little shaken."

"I just want to stop hearing about Irina. I want her out of my head, out of my mind. I'm just done with her drama."

"Pavel?"

"Yeah?"

"What was it like when she kissed you?"

"It didn't register straight away, then all the alarm bells went off. I wish I could stop thinking about it."

Emory stays and talks with him a while, trying to get his mind of Irina for a bit. He misses talking to her, he misses the way she played with his hair and made him smile. He wishes he'd used every last second of their time together on Earth instead of running away from it all, running away from her. He feels empty by the time they hang up. He falls asleep and wakes up with drool around his chin and groans. He thinks about Emory again and tries not to feel sad. He has a shift in the afternoon but can't bring himself to do anything until he has to leave. He lies on his bed and listens to music, wondering when he'll get to go back to Earth again.

Pavel showers and tells himself he can make it through the ship without thinking about Irina. He remembers the shower he had with Emory and how good it felt being so close to her. He doesn't know how he ran away from something so wonderful.

Sulu and Pavel eat in the mess hall and talk about some of the plants growing in the botany lab. Pavel never realised that Sulu was so into xenobotany but he likes hearing his friend talk with such excitement. One of the plants seems to change colour with its mood. There's another plant that has a pollen that causes an absolute flood of sex hormones when breathed in. A few people studying the plant have had to be dismissed from their shift to 'recover' from the crazy effects of it. Sulu hasn't gone near it yet but he's still a little scared to after his co-worker described what it did to him. They call it 'sex pollen' because of the unrelenting sexual desire it gives. Sulu thinks a few couples have taken a swab from it before but doesn't see why they'd want to. It's a lot stronger than anyone realises.

Irina comes into the mess hall and Pavel prays she doesn't sit down near them. He points her out to Sulu silently. He holds his breath until she takes a seat across the room, sighing in relief as soon as she's across the room. He made it through the shift without thinking too much about her and he really doesn't need the flood of thoughts he's getting now. Sulu gives him a sympathetic smile and tries to change the subject, asking a little about engineering. Pavel feels like it's been too long since he was last down there helping out with something. He has a lot he plans to do but not enough motivation to do it after being drained by so much drama.

(Author's Note)

Celebrating 500 reads <3