It had been a long three months since the last shore leave, and most of the crew were ready for some seriously needed downtime. The Enterprise was back on Earth in order to receive repairs and some maintenance. Kirk had suggested, ordered more like it, that the command crew head to the beach for the day.

Most everyone had agreed a day in the sun would do some good, except Bones, who'd been trying to find every excuse possible to get himself out of going. He lost in the end, of course, but mostly he'd agreed to tag along just to shut up Kirk's constant nagging.

The day went smoothly for the most part. There were the occasional sand fights and dunking, along with a brilliant sand castle building contest. Everyone had paired up except for Scotty, who ended up winning by a landslide after constructing a six-foot tall castle complete with a moat and operating draw-bridge. His bragging was put to an end a little while later though, after Sulu absolutely annihilated everyone in a surfing competition.

It was late afternoon when everyone agreed to head back to their respective hotel rooms and then meet back up to spend the evening on the boardwalk. Spock, Uhura, and Bones drove back in one car, while Sulu and Scotty used another. Kirk and Chekov were the last ones to leave after packing up the rest of their gear.

"Hey, you mind driving back?" Kirk asked as he slammed the trunk of the car closed. "My arms feel like they're gonna fall off after carrying that cooler all the way here". He tossed the keys over the side of the car to Chekov, who fumbled as he barely caught them with both his hands.

He stared at the keys for a moment before looking to Kirk, and then back to the keys. "Um…Ketpin, I…I don't know how to driwe," Chekov said sheepishly.

Kirk's hand hesitated on the door handle as he stopped short and turned, the most incredulous look on his face. "Don't know how to- what? What do you mean you don't know how to drive? Didn't you learn in school or something?"

Chekov shrugged his shoulders and then tossed the keys into the air; catching them before they fell. "Vith all zhe hassle of enlisting for Starfleet and ze schoolvork, I guess I newer got ze time to learn. It seemed more important to learn ze vorkings of a starship zhan a car. Noot much use for zhose in space."

Kirk stood silent for a moment, his eyes staring at the car, deep in thought. His head snapped up, and he patted the top of the car with his hand. "Get in," he said as he opened the car door and sat down in the passenger seat.

Chekov's eyes widened in shock and he looked in the window and shook his head. "But I told you zat I don't know how to-"

"Everyone's gotta learn sometime, kid. And this time, is your time. So come on".

"But I-"

"No buts," Kirk asserted.

Chekov held his hands out towards the car incredulously. "I hawe no idea how to driwe zhis zhing! I know how to fly a Starfleet ship, not zhis piece of death on vheels!".

Kirk leaned across the console to open the driver's side door and smirked. "Chekov if you're scared of driving all you have to do is tell me".

Chekov paused for a moment, huffed, and then grabbed onto the door. "I'm noot scared," he mumbled unhappily. Kirk beamed.

"Well good! Then we've got nothing to worry about. Come on, we've got plenty of time to kill. I already sent Uhura a message that we're gonna be a bit getting back to the hotel".

Chekov pulled his door shut and glanced over at Kirk. "And Nyota eez perfectly fine vith vhat ve're doing?"

"More or less she thinks we're still on the beach and you're chatting it up with some lovely lady you met while packing up the car".

"Vhat!"

"Oh quit being so irritated with me and start the car," Kirk finally said.

Chekov thumped his head against the steering wheel and inhaled heavily. "If ve die, eet's your fault," he said as he started up the car.

"Yeah, yeah just put the car in drive," Kirk answered with a wave of his hand.

Chekov stared at the various controls around the console and the gear sticks lined up in the middle. He wracked his brain, trying to figure out which one would do what he desired. Pretty confident with his guess, he reached forward and hit a red button to the left of the steering wheel. Immediately the windshield wipers began rapidly swiping back and forth across the glass.

Furrowing his brow, he tried another button this time, a switch towards the middle of the console. The convertible roof above him slowly began retracting to the back of the car. Quickly trying to rectify the situation, he hit the switch directly next to the one he'd just flipped; this one causing the radio to turn on and nearly shatter Chekov's eardrums. The screeching music caused him to cover his ears and cringe as Kirk shot forward to turn the volume off.

The car was silent again, the roof open, and the wipers still swaying across the windshield. To the right, Kirk inhaled deeply.

"As much as I enjoy a top-down drive and the radio playing at a soothing billion and five decibels, maybe we should start by doing this," Kirk instructed as he grabbed the gear shift and slowly moved it into drive. The car shifted back an inch, causing Chekov to stiffen and grip the steering wheel like a lifeline. "Whoa, kid, relax," Kirk reached a hand out calmly, "we're only in the parking lot. Take a deep breath, and slowly pull forward out of the spot. It'll be a piece of cake".

Two hours, three near-misses, five angry shouting drivers, and a decimated rose bush later, Chekov and Kirk had finally made it to the freeway.

Needless to say that Chekov was pretty sure he'd developed an ulcer somewhere along the way and that Kirk was never going near a car with him in it again.

"Okay," Kirk breathed calmly, "we're on the highway now. There shouldn't be too much you can run into here. Hit it."

"Hit what?" Chekov asked.

"The gas pedal."

"Vhy vould I do zat?"

Kirk swiped a hand over his face. "It's a figure of speech. It means to accelerate the car so we can actually get back to the hotel sometime today".

Chekov rolled his eyes but complied. Applying a wary foot to the gas pedal, he slowly sped up until they were cruising at a decent speed. The remainder of the ride was rather decent, that is, until they reached the stoplight directly before the hotel.

Chekov did what Kirk told him to do upon reaching a red light: he slowly eased off the gas and applied the break until the car came to a complete stop. Everything had been going great until a bright red convertible full of twenty-something men pulled up next to them. A few of them were obviously drunk, for they were talking obnoxiously loud and laughing without any regards to anything around them.

One of the guys piped up as he looked over at the car. "Hey-Hey is that-is that Jim? Jim! Jim Kirk oh my God!"

A roar of laughter rose from the car, and Chekov glanced towards Kirk, a puzzled expression across his face. "You know zhese people?"

Kirk sighed deeply and reluctantly nodded his head. "I knew them back from the academy. Bunch of idiot cadets whose dads PAID FOR THEM TO MAKE COMPLETE FOOLS OF THEMSELVES," he shouted across the seat and out the window.

This caught the attention of all the men in the car, whose drunken grins had been replaced with sour scowls. "You talking smack, Kirk?" One of them asked. "Like you got hell to say when you're driving in that piece of tin with a twelve year old chauffer!"

Chekov looked at them, offended, and then towards Kirk; his eyebrows raised as if asking are you kidding me?

"What's the matter kid?" One of the drunker men asked. "You just realizing how much of a loser your buddy really is? I feel sorry for ya, I do! It's a curse to be around that walking disappointment."

Chekov's eyes narrowed dangerously, and he squeezed the steering wheel so hard his knuckles turned white. He felt a hand on his shoulder, and heard Kirk talk to him firmly.

"Come on, Pavel, don't let 'em get to you. They're a bunch of morons who had a little too much to drink."

"You're going to let zem say zhose zings aboot you?" Chekov asked angrily.

"I never let it bother me then, and I sure as hell ain't gonna let it bother me now".

Chekov sighed heavily, resentment still heavy in his mind. He felt his face burning in anger at the thought of what they'd said about Kirk.

"Hey Jim!" The driver of the other car called. "Why don't we settle this the way we used to back at the Academy? Light turns green and fastest car to the end wins!"

Kirk rolled his eyes, but the other driver smiled drunkenly in persistence. "Oh what's the matter? Afraid I'll kick your ass just like I always did?" This sent the other men into another fit of laughter and obnoxious giggles.

Chekov, who'd been taking in the whole situation, had made his decision. He gripped the steering wheel tightly, and revved the engine a few times before shifting gears. A chorus of sarcastic "ohhhhhs" rang out from the opposite car.

"Pavel, no," Kirk warned him. "I told you, there's no need for this."

"Just trust me, Keptin," Chekov smirked, "I know vhat I'm doing". To add to the effect, Chekov reached into the glove compartment and grabbed a spare pair of black sunglasses and slipped them on his face; turning towards the men on his left, he tilted his chin up at them .

"Oh it's on ya brat," the driver called.

Both cars sat anxiously at the light, engines revving and eagerly awaiting the chance to move.

The tension was broken rapidly when the light suddenly switched to green. Chekov slammed his foot on the gas and the car shot forward. Soon they were barreling down the street, their opponents directly next to them.

As the vehicles neared the end of that strip of intersection, Chekov grinned devilishly as he glanced at the next light. Turning towards the car next to him, he waved and shouted "Hawe fun in prison!"

He quickly set his focus back on the situation and warned his friend. "Hang on, Keptin. Zhis is going to be rough!"

Chekov switched back into first gear and immediately slammed on the break. The wheels began screeching as smoke rolled out from under them and they began slipping across the road. The car threw them mercilessly to the left as they continued to spin out.

The car eventually slowed enough that Chekov was able to release the brake and shove it again in order to stop their movement completely. By the time the car was at a standstill, they'd done a 360, and were now facing the same way, their vision set on the other convertible, still flying down the road, only now, with a police car hot on its tail.

Chekov glanced over at Kirk, who was holding onto the dashboard for dear life.

"Are you okay?" Chekov asked sheepishly.

Kirk held up his hand and breathed in. "Give me a second to catch back up with myself before I pass out," he said. He sat there for a minute, breathing heavily and attempting to get his heart rate under control.

"You mind telling me how the hell you knew the cops were going to chase after them?" Kirk asked incredulously after composing himself.

"Eh, I saw ze police car on ze corner from ze light," Chekov shrugged with a smile. Kirk looked at him, shaking his head, and laughed.

"Brilliant," he simply said.

After finding the way back to the hotel and performing the onerous task of parking, Chekov finally unbuckled himself and inhaled deeply.

"Now I know vhy I newer vanted to learn how to driwe," he said. "It must hawe been my subconscious mind varning me to stay avay from cars".

Kirk laughed. "Hey we're all in one piece aren't we? It's not like we did anything that-"

"Where have you two been?!" A voice cut him off suddenly. Chekov and Kirk exchanged complete "oh shit" glances as Uhura stormed towards the car, a wrathful look about her face.

"If she asks about the smoking tires, we had to emergency brake to save a cute animal, got it?" Kirk quickly whispered.

"Got it," Chekov agreed.

The lie was a complete and total waste and Uhura found out eventually. She rectified the situation by banning Chekov and Kirk from driving by themselves from then on.

Of course, this rule was broken about twelve hours after its issuing, as most usually were, but Chekov would always remember that shore leave as one of the best.

Though, he vowed never to drive another car again for as long as he lived.