"Pavel, I need Pavel." A second voice sobbed out, and then the intercom system cut out.
Chekov was on his feet in seconds of hearing Emily's sobbing voice. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest; he needed to get to her. He needed to get to her now. He vaguely registered that the whole of the bridge crew was looking at him, their interest sparked.
"Captain, may I have permission to leave the bridge?" He asked, his voice shaking and showing that he was alarmed; his accent was more pronounced than ever.
"Yes of course," Jim answered as he stood up from his chair, gesturing to the door as he did, "After you Mr Chekov."
That was the only invitation Pavel needed to literally run off of the bridge, the Captain not too far behind him. If he hadn't been in such a rush to get where he was going, Pavel would have had a strange sense of déjà vu as he ran though the hall ways calling out for people to move out of his way. Emily needed him, and she needed him now!
If she was in sick bay, something was seriously wrong. She had told him that she had had her medical already and that she had coped just fine. He had been anticipating having to go with her, and he would have done so happily. He knew she wasn't keen on doctors, just like he wasn't keen on the dentist, and now he just needed to be there for her. Pavel's imagination was going wild with the possibilities of what was potentially happening to his best and oldest friend.
Jim on the other hand, was struggling to keep up with the fast pace being put up by Pavel. The kid was a runner, that much was now obvious. Jim couldn't recall ever seeing someone move that quickly for anything, yet alone a friend. So in a small part of his mind, Jim was re-assured that his plan to get the two young ensigns in a relationship would prove to be fruitful. The larger part of him mind was rather occupied on prising any deity that would listen on the fact sick bay was now insight. Jim also made the unconscious decision then and there that he would really need to start working out a bit more, there was no way in hell he would continue to allow a scrawny 18 year old to out run him again.
The closer the two of them got to sick bay, the sound of sobbing become louder, occasionally accompanied by a scream of pain. It was clear that someone was in a large amount of pain, or shock at the pain.
"Emily!" Pavel cried out as he entered the white and sterile room, his eyes moved immediately over to her cowering form. She was curled tight in a ball, keeping a guarded stance over her left leg, and thrashing out at the advances of both Dr McCoy and Nurse Chapel.
"Pavel!"
The exclamation from her mouth forced Bones to look up, it was only then that he realised his reinforcements had arrived. With a thankful look in his eyes, he immediately stepped towards the two men, raising his hands although in surrender. Christine, noticing this, stepped away also, and within seconds Pavel was at Emily's and pulling her into his arms.
"Bones," Jim demanded, "What the hell is going on?"
"I can honestly say I don't know Jim. I was bringing her here for her physical, which she has been avoiding ever since she joined the ship, and she just lost her footing." Bones answered, his eyes somewhat wide with confusion and bewilderment. "She fell about 10 feet, and now she won't let me near her."
"Well that has to be a reason." Jim responded as both men turned to gaze upon the quivering mass that was Ensign Auster on the bio bed, somehow Chekov had managed to move her. "You know your bedside manor leave much to be desired Bones."
"Oh well excuse me, O' Lord of good manners." Bones hissed, the sarcasm literally dripping from his voice. "Next time we encounter son nasty sons of bitches, I'll remind you of the importance of being polite shall I? I'm a doctor Jim, not a baby sitter who's here to hold hands."
Jim just rolled his eyes at the moody doctor, putting it off and Bones's 'time of the month'. He then re-focused his attention upon the two youngest members of his crew. Sometimes he often forgot how young some of his underlings were, the two in front of him right now were the epitome of the collective noun 'young'.
They were in a dangerous line of work, at the forefront of space exploration, him on the bridge and her in the engine room and they were still just kids. Sure when he was 17 and 18, Jim was already a young offender and teetering on the edge of being tried in juvenile court, but seeing Chekov and Auster so vulnerable like they were right now caused an uncomfortable pang in Jim's chest. He realised that he needed to do more than interfere in the lives of these young people from the periphery. He needed to take more of a personal responsibility for the two of them. He needed to be their surrogate parent, as well as their Captain.
Later that night Pavel was sitting in Emily's quarters, with her pressed up against his side, just like they would when they were at the academy. He just held her, knowing that was what she needed more than anything right now was to someone to help her believe that it was all ok.
Back in the medical bay as he had been cradling Emily in the overly bright and white room, he had heard both Dr McCoy and Captain Kirk speaking, or arguing, he wasn't completely sure. But not long after that, McCoy had come over to him and asked if her could get Emily to allow the doctor near her. In time, he had, and Emily was treated for what emerged to be quite bad transverse fracture in her leg. After that Dr McCoy had told him to take Emily to her quarters and that he had to stay with her. Pavel would have done that anyway, but it made it easier that he had the Doctor's permission to stay with her, especially since he was supposed to still be on the bridge for another three hours.
As Pavel had left sick bay, Emily in his arms as he doubted that she could have walked, regardless of what Dr McCoy said, he noticed that the Captain had nodded at him. Which had made Pavel feel even better about not having to return to his duties, as he seemed to have the Captain's approval as well.
So far, very few words had passed between the two best friends. They hadn't really moved all that much since arriving at her quarters, but this was not something that Pavel could allow to continue for much longer.
"Emily, what happened? I thought that you had seen the doctor weeks ago." Pavel kept his voice low, and for some reason that he couldn't explain, his accent seemed to thicken.
"Pav, you know that I don't do doctors." Emily sniffed.
"I know that, and I have never questioned that. But in leaving it this time, caused you to get hurt, I can't stand seeing you hurt like that Emily and I had to leave my post to be there for you." Pavel pressed on, keeping his voice low and understanding so as not to upset her further.
"Oh well, I'm sorry for inconveniencing you. Please, don't feel obliged to tend to me next time." Emily snapped as she got to her feet and stormed across the small room, limping slightly as she went, trying to get as far away from Pavel as the space would allow.
"Hey, that isn't fair Emily." Pavel said as he too got to his feet. "I came because you asked for me, I will always come when you're hurt, if you ask for me or not. So why is it that you didn't see Dr McCoy like you said you did?"
Emily's face was cast down. She couldn't look into the eyes of one of the only people in her life that had never questioned her actions and had put up with her weird crap. She knew that she needed to tell him about why she had lied to him. To most, hers was an odd fear and as she couldn't speak about the reason why, it appeared to be completely unjustified.
But it was justified. She knew that, and it was time that Pavel knew as well. And so she told him. She told him about how as a child she had woken up to a room full of doctors, alone apart from the doctors. She told him about losing her parents, being in a coma like state for six months, and upon her wakening her having her amazing capacity to learn. She couldn't tell anyone what had happened to her, she didn't know, but it didn't stop them from trying to find out. She told him about how she had spent months going back and forth between doctor to doctor being prodded and poked, all the while her remaining family members were confused at what had happened to her. Over time she had come to dread visiting doctors, dreaded the inevitable poking and prodding that was due to follow.
What she told him explained why she was reluctant when it came to doctors. It was understandable when something like that happens to maintain a level of dread. Pavel found himself crying with her as he held her, trying to sooth a deep rooted pain of the loss of her patents, which had spawned her intellect. Pain that would never go away truly, but could be dealt with, with a lot of help. He held her until she fell asleep, falling asleep himself soon after.
And that was how Hikaru Sulu found them the next morning. Pavel on his back, an arm loosely wrapped around Emily, who was resting on his chest, sound asleep and oblivious to the world around them. Hikaru found himself smiling softly at the sight in front of him, and drawing his PADD, took a photo for later use to embarrass the two young teens.
It's in this chapter that my biggest alteration of this story has taken place. Upon re-reading it, I didn't like where it was going and seemed very silly to me. So I changed it, call it my creative licence :P.
Still very happy to receive feedback concerning this story! I'll happily take suggestions on just how Pavel and Emily should get together... this is an open invite people ;)
