Hey, sorry about how long this took again. Life's still crazy-busy, and updates with still be unpredictable, but thank you to the people still reading. I hope you enjoy where I take this.
Pavel had known David since they'd first arrived on V6. David owned a large portion of the company he worked for and had insisted upon being there to greet Pavel when they left the ship. David was flirtatious, charming, instantly likeable, about sixteen years Pavel's senior, and filthy rich. Upon meeting him, David said, "Let me see, you're a young genius; expert in math and science, you play chess, you can fight, you're ridiculously attractive and you've carried twins. Is there anything you can't do, Pavel?"
Pavel, still rather in the thrall of post-natal hormones and with his defences up, had replied, "I can't stand being patronised." For a split second he thought he'd made a terrible mistake, but David had just laughed and insisted they get a drink together some time. But Pavel had assumed that "get a drink" meant simply "have a drink as acquaintances" and not "let's go out together". It didn't matter for a short while, because he did not get much time for such things upon the first few weeks of his arrival. Much of his work was done at home, giving him time to spend with his babies. The children were a handful, but a young woman named Anne had been employed to help care for them. She was a lifesaver for Pavel really, as no matter how hard he worked; he just didn't seem able to have both Serge and Aliza under control at once. He'd attend to one, and the other would start fussing. He'd change one of the baby's diapers, and the other would promptly fill theirs. It would have been chaos if not for Anne, and often it was still close to that.
Pavel worked hard, both at being a parent and at his job. Although his superiors and colleagues were supportive and sympathetic to his situation, he still made sure to put in an appearance at the office at least twice a week, both for appearances and also because the building was extraordinarily beautiful. He also started working at his English again. He had never been embarrassed of his accent, as he was fairly confident that his extensive vocabulary made up for it, but he wanted it toned down a little. He wanted his voice to sound as mature as possible, whatever language he was speaking.
Occasionally he still felt rather overwhelmed by everything. It wasn't that he didn't love his job or his children, but he'd spent so much time fearing that he'd never get there that it was often sobering whenever the memories of the reasons why came back to him. Whenever he looked at the children, he was reminded of Spock, and he often wondered if that was why his mother hadn't wanted to look at him; had it been because Pavel reminded her of something she'd have rather forgotten about? But that didn't matter, he decided, because he wasn't going to resent his children. He adored them now; they were his world. Which was perhaps another reason why, when David finally asked him out on a date, he felt strange about it. Naturally there was the lingering hurt of his last relationship, and then the fear of yet another disastrous result if he attempted another. But also, there was the fact that he had not really considered his love life after having the kids. He'd never really thought much about love, since his career had dominated his focus since he'd been old enough to know what a job was. He was not exactly against the idea of going out with David, who seemed perfectly decent and whose attentions towards Pavel had not attracted any hostility from the other employees at the office – it seemed that he had finally found a job where people behaved appropriately regarding each other's private lives. However, David's wealth and undeniable sense of status was slightly intimidating. If David actually proved to be some kind of scoundrel, he would suffer absolutely no judgement, and Pavel would potentially be left broken-hearted for the third time running. Also, Pavel was acutely aware that David did not have a well-documented dating life. He was very private, and no one around knew all that much about him. Yvonne, Pavel's immediate superior told him that David had never dated anyone from the office before. "You must have really caught his eye," she told him, giving him a little wink. Pavel just heaved a sigh when she'd walked away. He'd caught Leonard McCoy's eye, too, for about five minutes.
When Pavel returned home, he thought on the subject more. He would be just thirty-six years old when the children were eighteen. And if he was fortunate enough to form a successful relationship with someone else before then, he could spend plenty of time in space when the children were even younger. He could, very potentially, have the best of both worlds. If he wanted both, which he still wasn't sure about. He was still certain he wished to return to space at some point, but he would put the children's needs first. He wasn't going to just run out on them every so often; he was still somewhat haunted by the rumours of Jim Kirk's upbringing. As he and Anne bathed the twins, Pavel asked her what she thought about it. "Well," she replied, "you get a good amount of time at home with your family, and more than enough at the office by the sound of it."
Pavel nodded, "I could technically just work at home and only come in when they call me, but I want to know the people I'm working with."
"I think if you like this David, you should go out with him," she said. "He may be your sort-of-boss, but he would be unable to fire you if things didn't go well, right?"
"Right. I looked that one up immediately!" said Pavel, snorting. He looked sideways at her as the twins splashed weakly in the shallow bathwater. "You really think I should?" She nodded.
And so it was that a few nights later, Pavel found himself at a bar, talking with David. The man was pretty gorgeous with his dark eyes and fair hair, and he was also hilarious. Fortunately, David liked making people laugh, because Pavel was shaking with laughter rather unattractively by the end of the night. He had a wonderful time, and when David asked if they could go out again, Pavel said yes, straightaway.
They started going out more and more often. Pavel had no idea whether it was going anywhere, but he knew he was happy, and that he liked David. David was fortunately almost as intelligent as he was rich, and so the pair of them never felt out of their depth together. David was too easygoing and polite to throw Pavel off even when he was being extremely vulgar and flirtatious. He was also curious about the children, but when they arranged a day out with them, Pavel finally felt out of his depth. He did not know how David would be, but as it turned out, he needn't have worried. David wasn't exactly great with infants, but he didn't panic when things went wrong, such as when the babies cried, neither did he abandon Pavel to deal with them himself, and held Serge as Pavel saw to Aliza, talking to the baby as though he were twenty rather than ten weeks old. Many days, and a few nights, were spent at David's mansion, which even David admitted was ridiculously huge and pretentious. "Belonged to my grandfather," he explained, somewhat sheepishly.
The day eventually came when David asked seriously about Serge and Aliza's other biological parent. "I admit I had a little nose around in your file before you came here," he said thoughtfully as they sat in Pavel's study. "But much of it was kind of complicated and I wasn't sure if I really understood it."
Pavel smiled softly, "I think I can tell you, if you want to hear it."
"You don't have to, I mean that... if you don't think I need to hear it then, please don't worry about it. But... we're dating, and you have the kids and I feel like I should understand anything that might come up. I really like you, and the babies are the cutest, even if I'm not the best with them."
"For a bachelor who's obviously terrified of children, you're pretty good with them, David."
"Hey, I'm not terrified of anything. Just wary. Kids are smart, baby, especially yours."
"Oh, I know," laughed Pavel. They looked at each other for a moment, and then he took a breath and exhaled lightly, "Where should I begin?"