something to do (Pavel Chekov)

37

McCoy and Doctor Vessa are both there for the procedure. There's a screen up so Eadie can't see anything and Pavel just tries to distract her. She chats to him, staring at the ceiling and trying not to get too worried about what they're doing to her. She zones out for a little while and Pavel struggles to get any conversation out of her. He kisses her hands and keeps his eyes away from the screen. As soon as they finish Eadie starts crying again and falls into a deep sleep. Pavel keeps his hand with hers and rests his head on his arms.

"You should get some rest," McCoy mutters, coming over and checking Eadie's vitals. "I can page you when she wakes up. You don't have to stay. You look tired."

"I will stay here," he says. "I want to keep an eye on her."

McCoy stops for a moment. He sits down on a chair beside Pavel and looks to Eadie before looking back to him. "She'll be okay. You know that, right kid? She's not presenting like the other cases, but we'll look after her."

"Don't let anything happen to her," Pavel mutters. "I don't think I'd manage living without her."

McCoy nods and stands up, offering Pavel the biobed opposite hers. Medbay is empty and he takes it, making sure his hand can still hold hers.

Eadie wakes up hazy. She can see Pavel sitting opposite her with his arms crossed on his chest and she sits up a little. He looks over to her and gets up, stretching his arms and legs before resuming his position in the chair. He stays a few minutes and kisses her head, telling her he'll be back in a minute of two.

"That kid's not going to the toilet again?" McCoy mutters. "That would have to be the fifth time in the past hour. Was he always like this?"

"Not that I've noticed," Eadie mumbles, thinking of going back to sleep again. McCoy scans her again and Pavel comes back, taking Eadie's hand and giving it a soft squeeze. Eadie gets moved to get a full body scan done and McCoy stays with Pavel, asking him why he's going to the toilet all the time.

"I've no idea," Pavel mutters. "I thought I was just nervous or something, but I've been getting pain in the past few days."

"Pelvic pain, groin pain? You're going to need to be a little more specific."

"Pain when, ah, urinating, I guess. I feel like I need to go all the time."

"Could be an infection," McCoy says, lowing his PADD a little. "It couldn't be anything sexually transmitted?" He watches as Pavel shakes his head and frowns. He tells Pavel to sit up on the biobed and he pulls out a tricorder, running it over Pavel's abdomen. He frowns at his PADD even more than before and shows Pavel what he's looking at.

"Are those my..."

"Kidneys. Yes. Why the fuck do you have four kidneys?"

Pavel has no idea and he shakes his head. He lifts up his shirt and shows McCoy the faint remnants of a puncture wound from when he was jabbed in the side by an alien syringe. Eadie comes back with Doctor Vessa and McCoy shows his PADD to them.

"Four kidneys?"

Pavel sighs and pulls his shirt back down. He's stressed enough as it is with Eadie's organs not cooperating. He doesn't want to have to worry about his own as well. McCoy makes him take a seat on the biobed and he does, not in the mood to argue. His whole body feels heavy now and he lets his mind go quiet for a little while. It doesn't happen often, but he puts it down to some sort of weird coping technique. Eadie seems unsettled now and looks over to Pavel.

Medbay becomes their new cell. McCoy tells them they're in medbay 'until further notice' and the uncertainty is painful. They have a new four walls now. Pavel does have an infection and McCoy gives him something to clear it up. He tells Pavel he's going to remove the new kidneys when his infection is completely better. Pavel doesn't care. He just wants to stop going to the toilet every fifteen minutes.

Eadie complains of abdominal pain and Doctor Vessa and Doctor McCoy scan he over again. Pavel sits next to her and squeezes her hand. He watches the doctors and talks to Eadie in Romanian. It seems to distract her, and she periodically corrects some of his grammar.

"Is that..."

Doctor McCoy and Doctor Vessa look at one another and go quiet. McCoy excuses them for a minute and they head into his office, leaving Eadie there looking terrified. Pavel kisses her cheek and she pulls him close.

"Make it stop, Pavel. I'm so tired. I just want to go back to our room."

He kisses her again and tightens around her. He whispers to her, telling her it'd all be okay.

Neither of the doctors comment on what they were looking at. They tell Eadie they need to put her under for another procedure and she tells them she doesn't want to know what it is. They nod, putting a mask over her and letting her slip under.

"She doesn't want to know what you're doing, but I do," Pavel asserts once Eadie's under. He's wound up and angry, though he isn't entirely sure why.

"Chekov," McCoy says softly. "Do you really want that stress on your shoulders? You've got enough to worry about with your own health."

"I want to know," he says, his teeth grinding together just a touch.

"It's another abortion."

Pavel goes quiet. The doctors wheel Eadie out and Pavel sits there, frozen in stunned silence. 

(Author's Note)

Real tumbleweeds in my notifications nowadays
If you read this and enjoy I'd love to hear it
Much love,
Clover ♪