Housekeeping again, sorry there's so much of it, but what can I do?
GiraffePanda2 – I manage to update quickly only when I'm in the right frame of mind and in nice and positive emotional state. For the past little while I haven't been, so no writing took place, and for that you can blame a young man by the name of David. But I'm back now for a little while hopefully. I won't be touching the drunk messy scene that many of us have read in the past, they seldom come off clean and well written, so you can rest easy .
starfire341 – Come on now, we've all been in that position where we're scared to make the first move, the fear of rejection is a powerful thing. And you'll just have to see what happens, my mind is a deprived thing, and sometimes things change :P.
icefire – Glad you think I'm funny, I do try ;). Toni is necessary for what I have figured out to work, at least a little, and she's a real crew member as well. I did research! And you've got to admit, Pavel's a little bit sexy, you know it's true .
Trekkie4eva – If it makes any difference, I didn't post my first chapter of anything on here until I was in my late teens. Hopefully, I'll be seeing something of yours on here before long, if it's not already there, and you're just hiding in anonymity for now .
Pancakesandsyrup – Thank you! I pride myself of my OC's, I work hard to make sure they're believable and rework them constantly until I'm happy with them. And I'm very flattered that you consider my work so good as to spawn other stories, I'm blushing over here!
MissCherry – Your English is fine, I hadn't noticed anything until you mentioned it. As for Emily and Pavel, we'll just have to see won't we? :P
Ducky the Insomniac Panda – I'm glad you like it . Kudos on the awesome name as well.
Alice-Ann Wonderland – Good! We need more Hikaru Sulu's in the world, keep it up!
Jenna of the Red Robes – See, I updated :P
Hikaru kept an eye out for Jim Kirk to appear in the Officer's mess that morning, he was sick of waiting for Pavel to make a move, and had decided that he needed a push in the right direction. As well as keeping an eye out for the Captain, he was also waiting for the two young love birds in question to make an appearance. Chances that they would arrive together were slim, but not impossible. Still, Emily would most likely have Yeoman Barrows in her company, the two of them were becoming good friends, and it made sense for them to. Girls need other girls to talk to sometimes. Hikaru looked up as the doors opened, as he had every other time the sweeping sound echoed out across the oddly quiet mess hall, but this time, his apparent jumpy state came to fruition as Pavel made his appearance. It only took a few minuets for the young Russian to join his friend.
"Morning Pav, Emily not with you again this morning?" Hikaru asked casually, starting to push buttons.
"Obviously she's not." Pavel answered with a puzzled quirked eyebrow.
"How come? You're not avoiding her are you?"
"No!" Pavel sounded scandalised, and was proving that Hikaru was hitting the mark. "Why would I do that?"
"So you don't have to ask her out like we talked about." Hikaru responded like it was the most simple thing in the world. "Seriously Pav, you need to make a move and soon. I overheard that some kid in security though Emily was cute. Chances are he might be considering asking her to the ball."
"You don't know that." Pavel sounded unsure. "It's just hearsay."
"Still, she may not say yes, but what if she does?"
Pavel didn't answer Hikaru as the doors opened again, this time revealing a merry Toni without having Emily with her. Spotting both Pavel and Hikaru, she made her way over to them, waving over to her own boyfriend as she did so.
"Hi, Emily wanted me to tell you that she's sorry she couldn't make it down this morning. Scotty called her to engineering on an emergency. Something about something being out of alignment. Tell you the truth I wasn't really paying attention, it's all the same to me." Toni explained, clearly in a rush to get over to another table.
"Okay, thank you for the message." Pavel murmured, he wasn't all that comfortable around Toni. But if Emily liked her, she couldn't be that bad.
"Just a second Yeoman Barrows." Hikaru called out as Toni left to turn away and leave. "You know the what's what and the who's who on board don't you?"
Toni smiled and let out a mock scoff. "Of course I do, the Yeomen know everything on a ship. We're one of the few areas of the crew that have the chance to move between departments."
"Good, tell me. What is the general opinion on board regarding our mutual friend Emily?"
"What do you mean?" Toni asked, frowning at the question.
"What do people think of her?" Hikaru elaborated, a mildly amused expression on his face.
"They like her. Why?" Toni was still frowning, not sure what Hikaru was getting at.
"I see." He continued smiling to himself, seeing Toni's confusion, and a brief glance at Pavel showed him that his young friend was both frowning and glaring at him. Well at least one of the two had figured out what he was asking about. "But has anyone shown any interest in her?"
Toni's eyes widened slightly in understanding as she finally grasped what Hikaru was talking about. "There's been some interest sure, Em's a pretty girl."
"Has anyone asked her to the ball yet?"
"Not that I'm aware of, but she'd be more likely to tell him than me." Toni mentioned nodding towards Pavel, who was still in the process of glaring at Hikaru.
"Thanks Toni." Hikaru smiled softly, plaintively ignoring Pavel as the young woman walked away from the table. "See, Emily's gathering interest. Stake your claim."
"I can't believe you!" Pavel hissed, his accent thickening. "Stake my claim? Do you know what you sound like?"
"I think I sound like the voice of common sense."
"Just leave it alone Hikaru. If I'm going to do anything, I'll do it in my own time." And with that Pavel was on his feet and heading to the door.
Hikaru watched him go, shaking his head and sighing mournfully. "That's the problem though Pav, your time is taking too long."
How dare he! Pavel was fuming, not sure of what to think or do. His friends were medalling in his life and he didn't like it. Why couldn't people just leave it alone? He was planning on seeing where things were going with Emily, he wanted to ask her out, he had for a long time. But it was the fear of rejection, that mind numbing fear that wouldn't let the words come out of him mouth, and the one that wouldn't allow him to make a move. Why did everyone doubt that he was just sitting on his hands about this? He'd bee struggling with this very same problem for a few years now. He was an expert in thinking and strategizing about how all of this would go.
He'd come close to making a move a few times. Most of them back at the academy before the Nero incident. Thinking back on most of those times, they had been alone together, studying. They'd both be bent over the same PADD, reading the same page, racing each other to see who could finish the passage first; it was a time like that when he had had the first urge to kiss her. Nothing sleazy, just a chaste kiss, one that would make her blush and giggle nervously. But he'd always chickened out. He didn't want to ruin what they had together. They were both young, the youngest of all their class-men, and at one of the most prestigious schools in the quadrant. They needed each other, and to risk it would have been stupid. At least that's what he had thought at the time. Now he wasn't so sure.
Letting out a deep and burden filled sigh, Pavel though to the one time that they had kissed. It had been so brief that he'd almost missed it. It was just after the Nero incident, and he had just stepped off of the transport shuttle that had brought him and some of the other crew members of the Enterprise. Out of nowhere Emily had appeared and flung herself at him, her arms wrapping around his neck and her lips landing on his. He'd only just managed to register what was happening when she pulled away and buried her head in his chest, sobbing. He remembered asking her what was wrong, and forcing her to look at him, her tear stained face looking up at him with a mixture of joy, relief and sorrow.
"I'm just so happy you're still alive." She had wept. "I was monitoring every transmission I could, after we heard about what happened to the rest of the fleet I was so worried. I thought you'd been killed."
He'd just held her after that. To most passing by it must have looked like the reunion of Boyfriend and Girlfriend, and Pavel had liked the idea that people will have seen them like that. It was later that night that they had both gotten extremely dunk and passed out in her quarters, though not on top of each other as they had most recently.
Glancing across at the station in the wall as he passed by, he noticed it was nearly time for his shift on the bridge, so he made his way to the nearest turbolift. This next shift would be a long one, he knew that already. But the on the bright side, Hikaru wouldn't be there constantly watching him, the unresolved tension of this morning hanging between them.
"Ensign Chekov!" A voice called out to him as he stood in the turbo lift waiting for the door's to close. Looking up Pavel saw a Crewman hurrying towards him, one that he couldn't remember the name of.
"Yes Crewman?" Pavel asked slightly apprehensively as a lanky boy a similar age to himself dove through the doors as they started to close.
"Ensign Chekov…" The Crewman was panting due to the fact he had run towards the lift, and therefore Pavel. "Sorry... I've been looking everywhere for you."
"Why?" Pavel was very uncomfortable right now, and his voice and body language were making this very evident.
"I'm Crewman Parker by the way. I work in security. I was wondering if I could ask you a question."
Pavel was confused and growing increasingly concerned, though glad for the clarification on who was talking to him, but he had no other choice than to listen to the oncoming question. So he nodded his consent.
"It's just with the ball coming up and everything, I was hoping to ask…" Crewman Parker paused and looked down at his feet, his hand rubbing the back of his neck. "God this is embarrassing."
Is he asking me out? Pavel couldn't help but wonder in a slight panic And that is the understatement of the century. This was so far beyond Pavel's comfort zone, he felt himself backing towards the wall in a mild attempt to remove himself from this situation, but given that this was confined environment, that wasn't going to happen in the slightest.
"Look, everyone knows that you and Emily Auster are close. I was hoping to ask her to the ball, but I wanted to check that I wouldn't be stepping on any toes here. I'd hate to embarrass myself more than I already have." Parker gushed out, leaving Pavel a mixture of relieved and blindsided.
Pavel's mind started to race, what should he say? He didn't really have a claim on Emily, but here was proof that Hikaru had been right. And if Parker liked Emily, would that mean there were more like him? Pavel found himself speaking before he really realised what he was saying.
"Ensign Auster and I are going together." Pavel unconsciously placed an emphasis on Emily's rank and had refused to use her first name, clearly chastising the crewman before him.
Parker looked taken aback; he was clearly expecting Pavel's blessing to ask Emily out. "Oh, well at least I haven't made a fool of myself. Thank you for telling me Ensign."
The turbo lift jolted to a halt, and the doors opened, allowing Crewman Parker to leave, looking somewhat abashed. Pavel watched as the door closed, allowing what he had just said to sink in. As the doors closed fully, Pavel's legs gave out forcing him to slide down the wall of the tiny space.
He'd just announced that he was going to the ball with Emily, now he didn't have a choice, he'd have to do it. And he'd have to do it before the news got back to her. He needed help, and there was only one person who could help him.
So, what do you guys think? Who is Pavel going to go to for help? Is Emily going to find out about his lie? Oh so many questions... I'll try and upload again soon, but the next chapter though planned, needs writing. I'm currently having to pull extra time at work (currently working about a 35 hour week), and my job is somewhat physical so I'm always tired afterwards. Still for you guys I'll try :)
Xoxo