Summary: A blood drive is at the Academy and Chekov is finally 16 and can donate for the first time. He's nervous but Sulu, Kirk, and Doctor McCoy help calm his nerves.
For the record...I own nothing! Wish I did, but I do not!
This takes before my story Hey Dad and Thank You Mom. They are two separate stories but they take place in my own little reality.
This took me 7 months to complete! So sorry if it sucks or sounds lame. I was too lazy to finish it. It is based on my own adventures in giving blood!
A special thanks goes out to my beta reader Unleash Hell!
Giving For the First Time
"We have to get going Pavel or we'll be late," Hikaru Sulu said standing in the doorway waiting for his roommate to get his shoes on.
"Am coming, am coming," Pavel Chekov answered running to the door.
The two walked out of their dorm room and headed to the Sickbay of Star Fleet Academy. They were heading there to donate blood. For Pavel Chekov it would be his first time, as he had just turned sixteen two weeks prior.
Saying Chekov was a little nervous was an understatement. He was really, really nervous. It was his first time and he had never gone to watch someone give blood before. The experience would be completely new to him.
"You ready to do this, Pavel?" Sulu asked his friend.
"Da, I mean yes. Am ready," Chekov said looking up at his friend with his thousand watt smile.
"Are you nervous? 'Cause if you are it's nothing to be ashamed of," Sulu said.
"No am nervous. No am nervous. Am joost exeeted!" Pavel said loudly smiling, but Sulu saw through it. Sulu knew Chekov's English wasn't the greatest but he was improving. Sulu also knew that if Chekov was nervous his English got worse.
Sulu stopped and after a few steps Chekov stopped too. Chekov's head tilted to the side before he spoke. "Ees somezeeng vrong, Hikaru?"
Sulu looked at his friend for a moment before answering. "No, nothing's wrong, Pavel. Let's go before we're really late."
"Da," Chekov said.
The pair walked into Sickbay at 1850 hours. A nurse pointed them to a closed door that was labeled 'Doctor McCoy.' Sulu opened the door to see Doctor McCoy finishing up with a patient. Sulu saw the blood bag and then turned his head to see the color drain from Chekov's face.
"First time giving blood kid?" the man asked. Chekov blushed and Sulu could tell the guy was joking around. "Don't worry, the chance of you passing out is what, Bones, half and half?" Chekov paled again and the man just chuckled.
"Jim, stop it," Doctor McCoy said purposely putting the bandage on tighter than it needed to be.
"Ow! Bones, you trying to kill me?" Jim asked moving his arm to his chest.
"Stop tryin' to scare the kid, he's probably nervous as it is. He doesn't need you to help 'im," McCoy said motioning Jim to get up.
"Me no nerwous, me no nerwous," Chekov said smiling as he butchered the English language.
"Ya hear that Bones?" Jim asked jumping down. He walked to a chair in the room and grabbed a bottle of water, drinking half of it, before talking again. "He's not nervous."
"Yeah I heard him, Kirk," McCoy said before turning to Sulu and Chekov. "Who wants to be first?"
Sulu looked at his friend asking, "Do you want to go first? Or second? You can see how it's done if I go first and then you can make sure you really want to do this."
"Jou go feerst," Chekov answered stepping back.
"Okay then Mister Sulu you sit here and Mister Chekov you get to wait in the chair next to Kirk," McCoy said.
"Da, I mean okay," Chekov said sitting down.
Kirk looked at Chekov for a moment. The kid looked pale and nervous. Kirk had Chekov in a few classes, plus he had hung out with the kid before. Chekov had been to his and Bones' dorm room to get patched up after the school bullies had fun with him.
It wasn't weird for Kirk to see a kid, who was eight years younger than him, and be just as smart as him. Kirk saw Chekov turn to look at him. Jim Kirk smiled and with his left hand ruffled Chekov's hair.
"Giving blood doesn't hurt, unless the doctor doesn't hit the vein right," Kirk said watching Chekov's face. His face was smiling before it fell. "But don't worry; Bones here is amazingly awesome at always hitting the vein."
"Jim," Bones said. Kirk looked up at his friend. "Shut up."
"What?" Kirk questioned. "I'm just trying to make the kid see it's not bad and it doesn't hurt at all."
"What did I tell you 'bout helpin' 'im?" McCoy asked before pricking Sulu's finger to see if the iron in his blood was high enough.
"If anything Pavel," Sulu said, "It hurts the most when they prick your finger because… because you don't except it to hurt that much."
"Vhy do jou preeck hees feenger?" Chekov asked watching the blood on Sulu's fingers.
"Have to check to make sure his hemoglobin is high enough to give blood. I need to check his temperature too," McCoy explained.
"Hemoglobeen ees eeron, veeght?" Chekov asked.
"Yeah," Kirk answered. "Men don't really have a problem giving blood because of their iron; women get deferred a lot though, right Bones?"
"Yeah, how did you know that?" McCoy asked sticking the thermometer in Sulu's mouth.
"I heard you say that once and I just remembered it for some reason." Kirk answered grabbing some food from the table behind him.
"And you remember that?" Kirk nodded. "I'm impressed."
McCoy took the thermometer out of Sulu's mouth and nodded. "It looks like you're ready to go Mister Sulu," McCoy said motioning Sulu to sit on the Bio-bed.
Sulu got up from the chair and moved to the bed. He held out his right arm, knowing that one had the better vein. McCoy handed him a ball and muttered. "You know what to do." Then McCoy started cleaning around the vein, scrubbing it profoundly. Chekov leaned forward to see better. Kirk surprised him by smacking him on the back.
"You know you can stand up and get closer," Kirk said standing up and moving towards the bed. "You don't mind. Do you Mister Sulu?"
"No that's fine," Sulu answered turning to face his friend. "It's not going to hurt at all Pavel."
"Vat ees ze ball for?" Chekov asked.
"He moves it in his hand to keep the blood flowing," McCoy explained grabbing the needle. Chekov took a step back but only Kirk noticed. "You ready?" McCoy asked and at Sulu's nod he slid the needle in.
Sulu's eyes closed for a moment before he opened them again. He heard Chekov sigh and chuckled a bit. "I thought I was the one with the needle in his arm, not you."
"Eet look wery paeenful," Chekov stated.
"Pavel if you don't want to do this you don't have to," Sulu said with concern.
"I vant zu," Chekov said.
"Then let's get you started kid," McCoy said motioning Chekov to sit in the chair. "And Jim…leave."
"Why?" Kirk asked.
"Because you were scaring the kid earlier when he didn't have a needle in his arm. I can only imagine what you will say when the needle is in," McCoy stated.
"I'll be quiet, I promise," Kirk said holding his right hand up as McCoy pushed him back into the chair.
"Yeah, that'd be the day," McCoy said.
"C'mon can't I stay? I have nothing better to do," Kirk pleaded with his friend.
"As long as these two don't care I guess I can't do much. Ya'll stay whether I want you to or not," McCoy sighed in defeat.
"Yes!" Kirk yelled startling Chekov. "I mean if you don't mind, Sulu?"
"I don't care," Sulu answered, the rubber ball moving in his hand and the blood flowing into the bag.
"You don't mind do you, kid?" Kirk asked.
"P…Pavel," Chekov said looking at Kirk. Kirk shot McCoy a confused look. Even Sulu looked up at Pavel in confusion.
"What?" Kirk asked.
Chekov looked down, wondering if he should have even said anything, but he was sick of getting called kid. Chekov looked up and around the room. He opened his mouth to say something but then closed it. He bit his lip nervously.
"What did you want to say ki…" McCoy paused figuring it out but he wanted to be sure. "Whatever you were gonna say, say it."
Chekov looked up and opened his mouth, "Pavel," he repeated, "my name ees Pavel, not keed."
"Okay Pavel, you don't mind if I stay here, right?" Kirk asked.
"Nyet, I mean no," Chekov said smiling.
"Hear that Bones, the ki…Pavel doesn't care and neither does Sulu. So I guess that means I can stay," Kirk said smugly.
"Yeah, yeah I heard, now sit down and shut up so I can do my job," McCoy said grabbing a thermometer and putting it in Chekov's mouth. McCoy motioned Chekov to stay put while he checked on Sulu. He turned back to face Chekov taking the thermometer out, looking at it, and then the doctor nodded.
"Looks like your temp. is perfect ki…Pavel. We just need to check your iron and then you'll be ready," McCoy said grabbing the Russian's left hand. He scrubbed the boy's middle finger and was going to prick it when he heard a beep from behind him. Sulu's blood bag was full. McCoy grabbed some glazes and handed them to Sulu.
"Put pressure on it," the doctor muttered standing up and carrying the blood to the cooler on the other side of the room.
Kirk was the only one who noticed Chekov's face drain of color after seeing the blood bag. The kid was scared to do this, but hell, he was going to do it anyway. 'That takes some serious guts and balls,' Kirk thought. 'Kid's braver than people probably give him credit for.'
McCoy came back with a red bandage and put it on Sulu's arm. By now Sulu was completely sitting up and had his legs over the edge of the bed. Sulu was taking deep breaths, trying to get oxygen to his brain. McCoy was looking at the timer when he spoke again.
"Six minutes and forty seconds, Mister Sulu. You're not my fastest one today but you're faster than a lot of 'em. You can get off whenever you're ready."
"Okay," Sulu said hopping down in the chair next to Kirk.
"Okay, back to you Mister Chekov," the doctor said picking up the device that would prick Chekov's finger. McCoy saw the sixteen year old tense up. He gently, which was against his nature as a doctor, massaged Chekov's hand as a way to get the Russian boy to relax. "Just relax, Pavel, it won't hurt a bit," McCoy whispered. Chekov nodded, taking a deep breathe.
McCoy put the device on Chekov's finger. Chekov closed his eyes but otherwise he was relaxed. The sixteen year old heard the clink and then opened his eyes. McCoy had his back to Chekov and was waiting for his machine to tell him if his patient's iron was high enough to give blood.
The machine beeped signaling that it was done. McCoy looked at the results before nodding. "Looks like you're ready to go Mister Chekov. Now I'll just have you move on the bed and lay back," McCoy ordered gently.
Chekov did as told moving so he was laying flat on his back. He took deep breathes to try and calm his nerves. He tried focusing on Kirk and Sulu's chit chat instead of the butterflies he felt in his stomach.
Kirk and Sulu stopped talking as they saw McCoy with the needle in hand. Chekov's eyes got huge as McCoy stepped closer. The doctor eased the needle into Chekov's right vein, as that one was the bigger one.
With the needle in the sixteen-year-old's arm and the blood flowing to the bag everyone in the room seemed to take a deep sigh.
"See there Pavel, it doesn't hurt a bit," Kirk said winking at the teen.
The door to the room opened and a surprised nurse walked in. She had four pieces of chocolate cake on a tray.
"Oh, I'm sorry Sir, I thought you were done," she said.
"That's fine Nurse Chapel, just finishing up. What did ya need?" McCoy asked.
"I was just wondering if you wanted some cake, it was Doctor Puri's birthday. But now that I see you have patients I'll just leave the whole tray."
"Have ya already taken one Christine?" McCoy asked.
"Yes, I have Sir. I'll just leave the rest for you gentlemen. You can fight over who gets the biggest slice," Nurse Christine Chapel said smiling.
The nurse left the room leaving a grey tray with the cake. Kirk eyed the cake hungry, while McCoy just rolled his eyes.
"Go ahead and take one, just leave some for the rest of us," McCoy said eyeing the cake as well. It had been a long time since the doctor had had some food.
McCoy watched Sulu grab a piece. Out of the kindness of their hearts the two didn't take the biggest piece. Probably thought Chekov deserved it.
The doctor looked back down on his patient, who was doing surprisingly well. The blood bag was over half full. The kid had a good vein, though being an excellent runner helped a lot.
Chekov seemed calm. He was rolling the rubber ball in his hand and he was breathing deeply to keep oxygen flowing to his brain. The young Russian was just staring at the ceiling as if counting the tiles, which wouldn't surprise the thirty-one-year-old doctor.
Pavel's brain never seemed to turn off; McCoy knew this from seeing it in action. From having classes with Chekov to patching up the teenager when the bullies on campus had their fun. Over all the two Starfleet cadets got along just fine.
Another beep drew McCoy out of his thoughts. Chekov's blood bag was full. McCoy went through the motions with Chekov as he had done with Sulu. The Russian was still lying on his back when McCoy finally checked how long giving the blood had actually taken.
"Six minutes and nine seconds, Mister Chekov. I believe that you just set my record for the day," McCoy said adjusting the bed so Chekov was leaning up a bit.
Chekov let a small smile come across his face. He moved until he was sitting completely upright. Chekov tried to swing his legs over his edge of the bio-bed but McCoy stopped him.
"Wait a few more minutes there Pavel, don't need ya passing out."
"But I feel feene," Chekov said slowly.
"Most first timers say that kid but then they pass out," McCoy said gripping the teenager's arm lightly.
"Pavel, no keed," Chekov reminded him.
"Pavel okay. Just wait one or two more minutes then try moving. Okay?" the doctor said.
Chekov tried moving again exactly two minutes later. He swung his legs over the edge of the bed. The teenager took a few deep breaths before slowly sliding of the bio-bed.
McCoy let go of Chekov's shoulder when it looked like the kid wasn't going to pass out. Chekov slowly walked to the empty chair in between Kirk and Sulu. Kirk handed the Russian a water bottle, of which Chekov took some sips.
McCoy washed his hands before grabbing a piece of cake from the tray and sitting down in his own chair. The doctor glanced over at Chekov as Sulu handed him the last piece of cake. The kid looked pale, though he always looked pale.
McCoy knew as a fact that the Russian loved to run and was often seen running everyday. The doctor made a mental note to remind the kid not to run for a few days.
The teenager was lifting the fork with some cake on it when he slowly brought it back down.
"Hikaru?" Chekov whispered. "I zeenk I am goeeng to be seeck."
"Put your head in between your legs, Pavel!" Sulu yelled calmly at his friend.
Chekov did as Sulu said and McCoy was back on his feet again.
Damn kid was going to be the death of him. McCoy looked over at Kirk and they both nodded. McCoy went and grabbed some cold packs and turned a fan on that was facing the bio-bed. Together Kirk and Sulu grabbed Chekov and laid him back down on the bed.
The young Russian just stared up at the ceiling. McCoy put a cold pack on his forehead. Chekov was going to be fine; he just needed to take things slower next time.
McCoy, Kirk, and Sulu let out a sigh they didn't know they had been holding. Chekov's breathing started to return to normal, but McCoy was going to be damned if he let the kid get up in a hurry. Sulu was the first one to speak.
"Pavel, I swear you ever do that again…"
"Am sorry. I felt feene. I really deed," Chekov whispered.
"I know Pavel, but a lot of things happen when you give blood for the first time," Sulu said grabbing his chair and Chekov's forgotten piece of cake.
Sulu looked up at McCoy waiting for him to say something. McCoy sighed again. The doctor was right though, the kid was going to be the death of him.
"Mister Chekov should be fine. He just needs to rest some more than he should be able to go back to his dorm for the night," McCoy said softly sitting down in the chair Kirk had pulled up for him. "And you don't need to feel embarrassed Pavel. This happens to a lot of people."
Chekov just nodded, not really believing in McCoy's words. Kirk figured he could change that.
"Bones is right Pavel. I was sixteen when I gave blood for the first time. I was like you and made it to the table, felt fine, and then my whole world started spinning. Almost passed out," Kirk said. Chekov started smiling slowly.
"Let's see how you do leaning up a bit," McCoy said pushing a button that moved the bio-bed until it was leaning a bit. Kirk continued with his story.
"So they put me on this bed and I had the fan and cold patch and everything. There was this really hot nurse but she was so annoying."
"You, find a hot girl annoying?" Sulu asked. Chekov laughed quietly.
"Dude, you weren't there. She had this annoying giggle and she did at the end of every sentence. It is so not sexy when you have to listen to that for fifteen minutes," Kirk said.
"While my story isn't as funny as Kirk's, it's really sad. My first time giving blood…well…" Sulu said.
"Vhat happened Hikaru?" Chekov asked. McCoy moved the back of the bio-bed so Chekov was leaning up more.
"I didn't even make it off the bed before I started to pass out," Sulu said grabbing Chekov's piece of cake. "Here, eating this will probably help."
"Zank jou," Chekov said leaning forward to take a big bite. His taste buds burst with delight. "Zeese ees wery good."
Next the three older men talked about anything and everything. Chekov would put his two cents in every so often. Before anyone knew Chekov was sleeping, not knocked out, simply sleeping.
The clock said 2050 hours. It was getting late and McCoy had been there since 0900 hours. There was no way the doctor was going to stay in Sickbay for twelve hours.
"Something tells me he isn't going to be moving any time soon," Sulu said looking down at his friend's sleeping form.
"Yeah, remind him no running for at least two days. Don't need the kid getting sick because he was pushing himself too far," McCoy said.
"Got it," Sulu said sliding his arms underneath Chekov's shoulders and legs. He moved to lift Chekov but then let out a groan.
"Yeah, you shouldn't be doing that Mister Sulu. Here I'll carry the kid back to his room," McCoy said taking Chekov from Sulu's arms.
"You sure there Bones? Are you sure you can lift the kid. He is pretty heavy and you're pretty old," Kirk said smirking.
"Damnit Jim!" the doctor yelled before looking down in his arms making sure the teenager didn't wake up. "Damnit Jim," McCoy repeated quietly.
"Relax Bones, I'm joking," Kirk said smiling. "I mean you are only 30; you aren't that old."
Leonard McCoy carried sixteen year old Pavel Chekov out of Sickbay to the dorm room he shared with Sulu.
Kirk and Sulu said their goodbyes at the door as McCoy laid Chekov down on his bed. McCoy smoothed back Chekov's curls before leaning down to kiss his forehead.
"You're going to be the death of me, ki…Pavel," McCoy whispered to the sleeping teen.
McCoy walked out of the room, looking back only once to see Chekov snuggling into the covers. Sulu entered the room and the two best friends took the short walk to the next dorm door.
"You know the kid really looks up to you," Kirk said falling down on his bed.
"He looks up to you too, more than an old man like me," McCoy replied without even looking at his friend.
"You know I was joking about your age and I am serious. I mean yeah, sure the kid looks up to me and Sulu, but more as older brothers. He looks up to you as a father figure. Must think you're more responsible or something. You know, I've never heard him talk about his father, do you think he has one?"
McCoy didn't say anything; he just picked up the last picture he had taken with his daughter. She currently was nine years old. In the picture though she was seven. Tears filled his eyes as the doctor closed his them for sleep.
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