It Was The Punch Bowl Incident

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Pavel Chekov tugged at his fancy uniform uncomfortably. His fingers slid along the collar as if he couldn't get a fresh breath of air. Perspiration stood out on his forehead and lip and he nervously wiped his face with a linen cloth, which was already damp from his sweat. Normally, there was nothing Pavel hated more than being nervous. It made him feel like he was losing control. Like maybe he was going all wussy. But today he didn't mind the nervousness too much, because he knew it would be gone in a few hours. Today would probably turn out to be the best day of his life.

Today, Pavel Chekov was getting married.

Oh, he'd had an incredible amount of girlfriends over the years. Not one attractive ensign on the Enterprise had escaped his watchful eye, and none of the seductive alien girls had failed to make his heart beat faster. But the girl he was marrying today was a little different from the rest. She wasn't exceptionally pretty, or immeasurably graceful, and she hadn't even graduated from the Academy until the year before. But she, Tatiana, was the perfect one- Chekov knew- for him.

Hikaru Sulu had actually met Tatiana first, and had started dropping hints that she should apply for a position aboard Enterprise. Lt. Kevin Riley had been the next to meet her, and the one to introduce her to Chekov. At the time, Tatiana had seemed cool and aloof, uninterested in a relationship with anyone aboard Enterprise. It had taken a lot to even get near to the little ensign.

Pavel groaned, remembering the embarrassing circumstances in which he had succeeded in getting Tatiana's attention. It was an episode commonly referred to by Mr. Sulu as "the punch bowl incident".

One starry night- well, all nights were starry in space- James T. Kirk had hosted a birthday party for his thirty seventh birthday. Everything was complete, from the confetti that had been dug up by the engineering ensigns, to the chocolate cake with fluffy white frosting, to the fizzy pink disaster liquid. Captian Kirk's favorite punch.

Pavel had nonchalantly sidled over to Tatiana's side of the room as she greeted the Captian with a smile and said her "happy birthday, Captian Kirk". The Captian-who, like Chekov, never missed a chance to charm a beautiful girl- had been sporting his most glitzy smile (and his jerkiest movements). The little ensign had casually brushed him aside, excusing herself and heading for the refreshments table. Pavel, who had been standing near the punch bowl watching her, had hastened to offer his services as the punch server.

He dipped the ladle slowly, slowly into the bubbly pink liquid and drew it out. He carefully scraped it against the edge of the bowl to catch the drips and leaned over to pour it in her bowl. His belly lightly brushed crystal bowl and pushed it forward a little bit. Well.. maybe more than a little.

In other words, Tatiana got a whole lot more punch than she had been expecting.

Pavel had tactfully avoided the new ensign for the next few weeks. Well... he had tried anyway. For some reason, the little ensign had started to take more interest in him after that. Sulu had claimed that she thought he-Chekov- was a "sweet little boy" and that she wanted to make sure that he knew that there were no hard feelings. Wet feelings, maybe, but no hard ones.

Chekov, after some urging from Mr. Sulu and Lt. Riley, had begun to loosen up and allow himself to spend more time with Tatiana. He thought she was funny, sweet and... a little bit strange. Okay, she was extremely odd, but that didn't stop Pavel from loving her.

After all, who could resist a girl who had started to like you after you had ruined her best uniform in a punch bowl incident?

Hikaru Sulu poked his head into the room. "Hey, Chekov, you better get out here. Captain Kirk is ready to start the ceremony."

Chekov took a deep breath, settling the butterflies in his stomach.

Then he remembered that there was going to be punch at the reception.

Okay, this was kind of cliché, but I was really trying to get in a certain word count when I wrote it. Sorry guys! I hope you still liked it!