Nobis ✴︎ Pavel Chekov

Chapter Thirty Nine - Picking up the Pieces

       
Pavel makes it back to his room unnoticed. He lets the door close and slides down against it, breathing heavily from adrenaline.

Sulu checks around the door to see why it opened, noticing Pavel sitting against it.

"Is that a...? Oh Jesus, Pavel, you've fucked up bad. Real bad."

Pavel rubs the side of his neck swallowing and tapping his foot uncomfortably. "What do I do? I was completely wasted, I think I'm still a little drunk. I don't know exactly what happened, I just know I woke up in Irina's room. I don't even know if we did anything. Oh God, Sulu what have I done? What do I do? Oh shit, Emory, what about Emory?"

"Pavel, you need to calm down or you're going to pass out." He leans down beside Pavel and places a hand on his shoulder. It's almost brotherly and the Russian just looks up, still dazed and trying to keep the tears pooling in his eyes from bursting forward. Sulu helps him up, taking him into the kitchen. Sulu passes him a glass of water and something to fix his hangover. Pavel takes is and tries to breathe and calm himself down. He takes a few breaths and starts crying, thinking straight back to Emory and that he's probably ruined things. Sulu sits beside him and places a hand on his friend's back, rubbing in gentle circles and wondering if he should go talk to Irina.

"You don't know that anything happened," Sulu says gently, hoping to make him feel a little better.

"I have a hickey the size of a communicator on my neck. It's purple, I- I don't think that's a great start."

Sulu knows his has a point, both of them are fearing the worst. Pavel is just waiting until Irina wakes up and messages him. His stomach lurches at the thought. He goes back into the bathroom, worried that he may throw up again. He sits by the toilet and starts shaking a little, still crying and wondering if he can just go back to bed and pass out for a few hours. He waits until the nausea passes, requesting that Sulu doesn't wake him unless absolutely necessary. He goes straight to bed and eventually falls asleep, wondering what kind of mess he'll be when he wakes up.

Irina doesn't message him. She doesn't pop by, she doesn't respond to his messages when he sends a long stream of them, asking if she's awake. He makes the decision to go see her, walking out the door before Sulu can ask if he's alright. He knocks on her door and waits impatiently until she opens it. Her green eyes dig into him, more so than they ever have. She steps aside, putting her hand out to indicate that he can come in. He doesn't feel all that welcome.

"I don't know either. Before you ask me, I have no idea."

He pulls aside his shirt and shows her the hickey on his neck.

"God, that's huge... I'm so sorry. I'm honestly so sorry Pavel." 

"What did we do? I need to know, did we have sex? Did we just make out?"

"I don't know, Pavel. I honestly can't remember a thing. I can't even remember giving you that hickey. Look I was thinking of asking you, can I ask McCoy to help us out here...? We're both dying to know. A few swabs and he'll be able to tell us in like twenty seconds. I know neither of us want McCoy in on this but it'll be easier than not knowing at all."

"I- I don't want McCoy in on this, ah shit. We don't really have a choice, do we? Fuck, what have I done?"

"Pavel, let's just get this over with, let me cover your hickey first though." He sits down in defeat and she pulls out a few things from her makeup purse. She hates replicated makeup, insisting on only using a few specific brands from earth. She has a quite a stockpile, not much of which matches his pale skin tone. Irina has olive skin, dark hair and stunning green eyes. Pavel is as pale as a ghost and Irina takes a while working on his neck.

She shows him with a mirror and he's pretty amazed, it's like their night never happened and he wonders what exactly she did. She packs her tools away silently and suggests they go, not wanting to wait any longer.

McCoy seems surprised to see Pavel and Irina in medbay, particularly seeing them together. They ask if they can see him privately in his office for a few minutes and he agrees, leading them inside. He doesn't make any sarcastic comments, they both seem ridiculously uptight. He asks them what he can do to help and they look at each other, a little lost.

"We need help with DNA analysis," Pavel says weakly, not knowing what to say.

McCoy looks at him with a raised eyebrow. "That could mean a few things, are you trying to find out if you're the father of someone or...?"

"We got really fucking drunk and we can't remember any of it and we want to know what the damage is."

"That makes a lot more sense," McCoy mutters, rolling his eyes and reaching into his cupboards and pulling out a few swabs. "This is for you mouth," he mutters, passing her a blue swab. "This is for where he may have made contact elsewhere," McCoy says, passing her a green swab. "I'll need a hair or something from you Pavel, it'll speed things along a bit.

Irina goes into the bathroom and comes back looking a little redder than usual. She passes the swabs to McCoy and he removes the plastic bags around them, placing them into a small device. McCoy stands up and pulls a hair from Pavel, placing it in the bottom of the machine.

"I could have just given you one. That stung..."

"You could have bigger things to worry about in a few seconds," McCoy mutters. The machine makes a few sounds and then beeps loudly. Irina and Pavel exchange one final glance and McCoy keeps a straight face.

"Okay, you have traces of semen in your mouth... And well, there's traces of Pavel's DNA in your vaginal cavity."

"Did you have to use that terminology...."

"Wait, Doctor, does that mean we had sex or not?"

"I'm guessing that if you guys had sex, there would have been traces of semen down there as well. Just DNA probably suggests just fingers at this stage. I wouldn't be worried."

"Thank you, doctor," Irina says quietly, a strong sense of relief seeping into her voice. "I'm going now. I'll see you two around."

Pavel breathes out as soon as she leaves, sinking into his chair a little. He feels a relief he can't explain but still has noidea what he's going to tell Emory. He asks McCoy what he should do and the doctor sits down in the chair opposite him, a grim look on his face.