something to do (Pavel Chekov)

21

The whole 'girlfriend' thing seems a little surreal to Pavel. He wakes up with the word on his lips and kisses her cheek before disappearing into the bathroom. He comes back to her stirring and she wakes up suddenly, clutching her abdomen and starting to cry. Pavel pages medbay and comes over to her. There's blood starting to pour out of her again and she shakes her head, muttering that she doesn't feel well. Her forehead is covered in sweat and she groans again, looking up to Pavel.

"I'm sorry," she says, before her eyes rolls back into her head and she passes out cold.

Pavel switches to frantic Russian and tries to bring her back, not having any success and starting to cry as well. McCoy comes through the door with a few other staff in white uniforms and move Pavel aside. One of the nurses is trying to get information out of him but he can barely breathe let alone talk.

"Chekov, you need to help us out here, what happened??"

Pavel tells him that she woke up like that and they look at him, completely confused.

"You're not speaking Standard," McCoy grumbles, loading a hypo and pushing it into her neck.

"She woke up like that! She woke up in pain and started bleeding."

McCoy gets her on a biobed and starts wheeling her out, the nurses attaching an IV cuff to her and following the bed. Pavel follows, still hysterical and still breathless. He tries to keep up, his heart beating uncomfortably fast and his legs starting to ache with the lack of oxygen.

Medbay isn't busy. Eadie is taken into surgery and a nurse has to hold Pavel back as she's pulled away into another room. He isn't strong enough to push past the nurse and stops struggling, collapsing in his arms and breaking into sobs. The nurse gives him a gel pack and Pavel is reluctant to take it. The nurse puts him on a biobed and encourages him again to take the gel pack and Pavel caves, sticking it in his mouth and periodically wiping his eyes with his sleeve.

"Something happened?" A voice asks. Pavel turns. It's Doctor Kotir and he takes a seat beside Pavel.

Pavel just nods, not in the mood for talking. "Eadie. She's not well. They pulled her away from me and I got scared."

"Want to talk about it?"

Pavel shakes his head, finishing the gel pack and placing it beside him. "I just want Eadie. I just want to wait until she gets back."

Doctor Kotir nods, not saying anything but staying in his seat. Pavel's glad that he's not alone and he thinks the doctor might know this. They sit in silence and a nurse gives Pavel another gel pack to eat. He takes it slowly and tries to breath a little easier. He doesn't know how long passes. He gets lost in thought and phases out.

Sulu comes in and tries to convince Pavel to come back with him to sleep for a while. Pavel wants to stay and wait until Eadie gets out. Sulu sighs and thinks he might be fighting a losing battle already. A nurse comes over and tells Pavel it could be a long while before Eadie comes out and that he should take Sulu's offer. She promises to page him once she's awake but Pavel still seems uncomfortable.

"You need to look after yourself," Sulu says. "I know you're upset. I know you're scared but you're not doing yourself any favours by sitting here. Come have a rest so when Eadie does wake up you're not too exhausted to talk to her."

Pavel finally lets a little common sense seep in and nods, following Sulu out of medbay and trying to keep himself together. He gets to back to his old room and some of the anti-anxiety spray in his mouth, hoping it'll make him feel better. It kicks in a little faster than he wants it to and he can barely get his shoes off before getting into bed. He passes out before Sulu gets a chance to say goodnight. Sulu comes in and removes Pavel's other shoe. He helps the Russian into the bed properly and pulls the blanket over him, hoping her gets a long sleep before Eadie wakes up.

Sulu worries that it's been so long since Eadie went into surgery. While Pavel stays asleep, he messages Doctor McCoy to ask if he has an update and he gets a reply half an hour later. McCoy tells him that she's out of surgery but still out cold and that he's about to go to sleep after being on shift for so long. Sulu sighs and goes back to sleep a little longer. He stays on the couch so he can hear Pavel if he wakes up. He drifts off, hoping Eadie is doing alright, for Pavel's sake.

Pavel wakes up without freaking out. He inspects the spray before he gets up and is glad that it actually works. He goes into the bathroom and comes out to find Sulu in the kitchen.

"How long have I been asleep for?"

"Quite a while. Eadie is out of surgery but she's still sleeping. Want to eat something before you go?"

"Please," Pavel says softly. "Something sweet maybe?"

"Pancakes and a milkshake? I could go for something sweet too."

"Perfect," Pavel mutters, watching Sulu plug in the request into the replicator. He yawns and Sulu passes him a plate, taking a seat next to him. Pavel feels better getting some food into his for the first time in 30 or so hours and is just glad he has the option to chose sweet foods.

Sulu shoves a huge piece of pancake in his mouth and sits back a little. "So, what was it like being with one person for so long? Was there even a toilet where you were?"

"Kind of," Pavel mutters, taking a sip of his milkshake before continuing. "There was a hole in the ground and a tap. It was really awkward at first. We would just ask one another to turn around when necessary. I'm glad we had running water at least, and not a bucket or something."

"Did you two ever fight?"

"Not really. We just talked for hours and hours a day. Sometimes we'd get into debates over things but we never wanted to be angry at each other so we'd always change the subject and just move on. We were already quite miserable a lot of the time; there wasn't any reason to make it worse. I don't think I would have lasted long without her. It would have been so easy to go mad. I think we're both lucky we had each other."

"I hope you don't mind me asking this but are you two a couple? You seem very close but I don't know if it's purely friendly or not."

Pavel smiles. "We actually made it officially before she woke up with abdominal pain. She's my girlfriend now, yes. It's a little funny that she had to be trapped with me in a cell for eight months for that to happen."

"You guys were in there alone a long time... Did you ever...?"

Pavel stops eating for a second and looks to Sulu, shaking his head. "No, nothing like that. We kissed a little. That was all. We both would have been too stressed for anything other than pecks."

"That's more than understandable. I don't think I told you... I found a boyfriend while you were away. His name is Ben and he has to be one of the funniest guys I've met. He works in the botany lab. It was really quite lonely not having a roommate and my best friend. I spent a lot of time in the botany lab wondering what would have happened if it would have been me they took. I... I'm sorry I let you go... It took so long for me to stop thinking about it... I'm so sorry."

For the first time since it happened, Pavel can remember everything that happened before he got taken with Eadie. It seems a little clearer now. Sulu was cataloguing some of the plants and Pavel was next to him writing a report. He didn't know Eadie before they were captured, she was with another group entirely and had landed on a different part of the planet. He remembers sounds coming out of the bushes and readying their weapons. Pavel's legs were shot with something that dragged him towards the jungle. He remembers struggling and Sulu and Kirk shooting into the jungle. Sulu ran to grab Pavel but couldn't pull him from the binding around his legs.

"Go!" Pavel yelled, feeling a barb stick into his leg. "Run!" He blacked out then.

Pavel shakes his head, remembering everything that happened. "I'm sorry," he says quickly. "It all came back. It wasn't your fault. I'm alive, aren't I? I'm just glad you and Kirk got away. Please don't think that you could have done anything else."

Sulu nods, still feeling the sting of guilt. He has lost his appetite a little and takes his plate to the kitchen.

"You know, you should introduce me to Ben one time. I'd love to meet him."

Sulu turns and gives his friend a smile, deeply glad to have him back in one piece.