something to do (Pavel Chekov)

40

She smiles a little at the thought. "And will you give me a ring?"

"I will give you a beautiful ring. And I will propose to you on one knee and kiss your hand. I'll take you somewhere beautiful on our honeymoon and we will forget that anything in the universe ever hurt us. You'll be so happy and I'll be happy because you'll be glowing and smiling. We can go somewhere cold and cuddle close to each other and I'll try and cook you a nice warm dinner and you can watch and learn to not be so bad at cooking. And you'll try and cook me breakfast but you'll burn it and it won't matter at all because we can laugh about it and go out somewhere instead."

"And will I get to teach you how to ride a bike? If it's cold and snowy where will we ride bikes?"

"We can do that after our honeymoon maybe. We can come back to Earth and go somewhere warm. We will ride bikes and maybe I'll fall off and hurt myself but we'll laugh about it and I'll just enjoy you trying to look after me. You'll kiss me better and I'll be so happy that I won't even notice I'm in pain."

Eadie tells him how much she likes listening to him talk about the future and how optimistic he is. He doesn't decide to tell her that the vague hopes of a better future is all he has left. It's a weird coping mechanism, he figures. But if it works, then it works. Eadie stays on his chest for a while and he hums to her, dreaming of getting out again.

They go back to their old routine, stretching their stiff bodies and still feeling the heaviness of the air in the cell. Eadie asks Pavel to dance and he does, taking her waist and kissing her head. He spins her around a little until there's a noise in the corridor.

"Not again," Eadie whispers. "I can't do this again."

The visitors enter and Pavel kisses Eadie's hand, trying not to let anxiety cloud his judgement.

One of the visitors grunts into a universal translator and holds it up to them.

"Names. Ages. Species."

Pavel looks at Eadie. "Pavel Chekov. 23. Human."

"Eadie Carmen. 24. Human."

The visitor says something else into the translator and holds it up to them again. "Have you been here before? Did you regrow successfully?"

Pavel swallows. "Yes. I did, she didn't."

The visitor gestures to Eadie and two other visitors hold her down, pushing her back onto the bench. She starts to struggle and the first visitor gestures for her to calm down. She doesn't. Pavel manages to take her hand as the visitors start scanning her.

The scanners start beeping and they release their grip on Eadie. Pavel wraps his arms around Eadie and looks to the visitor.

"You are healthy," the visitor notes, looking to Pavel as he holds the translator. "You can go. She has to stay."

"I refuse to leave her here."

"Pavel," she squeaks. "Go. I don't want you to be trapped here too."

"No," he says flatly. "Solitude is torture. I'm not leaving."

The visitor says something else and holds it up to them. "Eadie Carmen can go when she regrows a functioning reproductive system."

"Eadie Carmen had a function reproductive system!" Eadie barks. "And you fucking liquified it!"

The visitor looks to the translator and then back to Eadie. "You had fertility issues. We were fixing you. You can leave when your reproductive area is fixed." With that he says something to the other visitors and they grip Eadie's shoulder and push a hypo into it. She squeals and Pavel holds her, trying to keep his breath steady as his own heart rate rises.

They leave and he sits down with her. He kisses her head and cradles her, trying to calm her down and get her to stop crying. He whispers to her in Romanian until she goes quiet.

"You'll be okay. Your body will come good and we can get out of here."

"I can't believe we're really back..."

"Me neither. But we're here and we can focus on looking after you. We'll be okay. We've done this before. We know what to expect."

Eadie doesn't have the heart to tell him that that information doesn't make it any easier for her. The guilt is eating her alive. They're here because of her. Pavel would be safe if it weren't for her. She shakes her head thinking about it. She asks that they distract themselves for a while. He nods, worrying about the face she keeps making.

They get more loaves of bread after a little while and they seem a little surprised, getting two loaves each rather than one. They eat together, sitting on the floor and unsure whether to eat it all now or save some for later.

"I'm not even that hungry," Eadie mutters.

"Keep eating," Pavel encourages. "You'll need your strength."

She nods, too tired to argue about her lack of appetite. She eats, leaving most of her second loaf for later and sitting up on the bench. She's tired and stressed. She wants to go back. She wants to get back on the holodeck with Pavel and spend time in the sunshine. 

(Author's Note)

Here's hoping that 2020 helps me release and utilise all the creative passion I know I have trapped inside me

Happy New Year
Thanks for sticking around
♪