The next few weeks were nothing but a dream. While Pavel had always been an independent kid, he was glad to be in the company of his brothers once more. They started every morning with a long run followed by a hearty breakfast and loud, rowdy conversations round the table with Cat and their parents.
During the afternoons the couple joined Sasha and Alexei out and about in town – restaurants, shops, tourist attractions. More than once Sasha jokingly tried to sway Cat to stay in Russia with him instead of heading back to space with Pavel. Each time, she'd consider the proposal before turning back to Pavel, laughing cheerfully, and vowing her loyalty to the youngest of the Chekov brothers.
One evening while Cat and Lidiya went out without the men, Andrei nodded to Pavel, who was locked in a chess match with Alexei. "Zees girl. She ees good." He watched his son across the living room. "She ees more zen good."
"Thanks, Papa," Pavel replied. "I know she is. She saved my life." He offered a lopsided grin before turning back to the chess board. He groaned as his brother snatched his remaining rook.
"She ees to be your life, I theenk," the older man replied in his gruff voice. "Zese theengs don't happen out of ze blue. Only a fool will not marry zat girl."
Alexei raised an eyebrow. "Zat can't be you. Andrei Chekov does not wax poetic. You never say anything so nice about my girlfriend."
"Your girlfriend has no brain een her head. Cat, though. Smart girl. Kind girl. Cat is good for him. Pavel leave Russia for Starfleet a boy, come back zis differeent man. She ees good for him. All ze women in space, and he find her? Ees fate." Andrei crossed his arms over his chest. "Ees time to act before your idiot older brother talk her out of eet."
Pavel grinned and sat back. "I'm glad you theenk so, too." He set his bishop down with a definitive tap. "Checkmate."
Cat awoke to snickering. She sleepily lifted her head and looked around the room. Andrei had delivered their bags into Pavel's childhood room without a second thought to their sleeping arrangements, which Cat had been thankful for. Posters of constellations and space exploration heroes adorned the walls. Various calculators and outdated computer models were stashed in drawers and notebooks of calculations were lined on a large bookshelf. The doctor had poked around out of curiosity and found the assortment endearing.
Now, two figures were chatting at the bedroom door. Assuming one of them was Pavel back from his morning run, she let her head drop back onto the pillow.
"She ees steel sleeping?" Alexei's voice came.
"Mmhmm," Pavel's voice came. He entered the room quietly and stripped off his hat and gloves. The morning run had been exhilarating, as with his talk with Alexei. Watching his girlfriend sleeping made him smile. "She has a lot of sleep to catch up on. The last few months haff been crazy. Attacks, explosions. Lots of patients. Lots of surgeries."
Alexei shrugged. "Well, eet is Christmas. Get her up!"
"Let her sleep," Pavel replied. "She will be up soon." He stripped off his running clothes and reached for jeans. "Zese? Not fancy enough?"
"I theenk zey'll be fine," Alexei grinned. "If ze answer is no because you're wearing jeans, well zen-"
"Shh!" Pavel hissed. "You're right. Will be fine," he reassured himself. "Right?"
Cat, in her half-sleep state, wondered what he was fretting for, but drifted back to sleep.
"Will be fine," Alexei agreed. "Eef she ever gets up!" Suddenly Alexei launched himself onto the bed and began jumping up and down. "Cat! Cat! Cat!"
Cat jerked back awake and automatically reached at the bedside table for her communicator. When she couldn't find it, she looked around wildly. "What is it? Who's hurt?" She cocked her head at Pavel. "Oh. Wait."
"It's Christmas," Alexei called before jumping back to the floor. "Wake up! We've already run five miles. Time for presents."
"Oh, that's right," Cat mumbled as she tried to smooth back her wild hair. She raised an eyebrow at Alexei. "You couldn't have just set an alarm for me?"
"Everyone else is downstairs. Come!" He bounded from the room.
"Sorry. Ees like having a dog," Pavel commented. "Since you're up, let's open gifts!"
Cat nodded and wandered into the bathroom to pull on her own jeans.
Christmas on the Enterprise wasn't bad, but Pavel was thankful to have Christmas at his parents' home on Earth. The real tree at the center of the living room gave off an amazing fragrance and its lights lit up the room. Nostalgia shone brighter than all the holiday lights in the house, however. The gifts under the tree were expertly and exquisitely wrapped by Lidiya, as they were every year. The simple pleasures of familiar decorations and faces filled Pavel with a warmth he only felt on Earth. The Chekov family was gathered in the living room, sipping coffee and hot chocolate. Cat was leaning sleepily against Pavel, who was more than wide awake thanks to his morning run, the black coffee in his hand, and one present in particular.
"Chreestmas wasn't ze same without you ze past few years," Sasha rumbled to Pavel. "Glad you are home. Zis next mission is only three years?"
"Just three years." Pavel grinned. "Ze Enterprise crew has become family, but zey won't replace my real family. Besides, I call on holidays!"
"Yes you do," Lidiya agreed. "Alexei, pass out ze gifts."
Alexei quickly read out the names on the decorated packages before sliding them across the floor. Cat marveled at his accuracy; small piles were forming at everyone's feet, even hers. "Gifts for me?" she pondered aloud.
"Off course," Andrei scoffed.
"Eef you are important enough to come home for Chreestmas, you are part of ze family." Lidiya smiled kindly. "None off my boys breeng a girl home for a holiday until you."
"No pressure," Sasha chuckled. "You set ze precedent. Either no one will leeve up to you, or no one will be as bad as you."
"Trailblazer," Cat replied enthusiastically. "Either way, you won't forget me."
"Pah, Sasha. Ees good theeng," Lidiya continued. "We want you here! Alexei's girlfriend? You notice she ees not here." She raised an eyebrow at her son, who had stopped passing out presents to make a face at her. "Maybe next year, eef you find someone else. Zat girl? Hopefully someone geeves her a brain for Chreestmas. A wocabulary." Lidiya turned to Cat. "We are not speaking English- she needs help with Russian. And zat's the only language she speaks!"
"Eh, we are over anyway, probably," Alexei confessed. "Haffing Cat here geeves me hope zat a beautiful decenter will fall out of ze sky. Ees hard to go back to having conwersations zat you know aren't understood on the other end." He slid the last present to Sasha before returning to his own spot on the couch.
"Here's how eet works," Sasha began, giving Cat a serious look. She returned the gesture and gave him her full attention. He chuckled and waved his hand. "Zere is no rules. Begeen!" With that, the family began excitedly chattering and calling out to each other as they opened gifts.
Pavel kept an eye on Cat. She seemed to be enjoying herself; joking and admiring her gifts. When she grabbed the smallest box from her pile, he stopped ripping the paper from the gift in his hands and watched her as her expression changed.
Cat weighed the gift in her hand. This looks like a ring box, she thought to herself. This couldn't be an engagement ring. Could it? What if it is? It can't be. Don't get your hopes up. Cat admired the bow. "Now I know Pavel didn't wrap this."
"Who cares? Ees just bow. Open eet!" Andrei cheered. He clapped his hands.
The way everyone stopped opening their own gifts to watch Cat all but gave away the small box's contents. Her mouth suddenly went dry. Her instincts told her to make a joke to cut the tension, but her mind couldn't conjure one. Rip it like a bandage. She tore through the bow and ripped the top of the box off and quickly as she could. However, before she could open it, Pavel managed to scoop the box out of her hand and kneel in front of her in one fluid movement. When the movements stopped, Cat wasn't at all surprised to see Pavel presenting her with a diamond ring.
"No," Cat breathed.
"No?" Pavel repeated in a horrified whisper.
"No, no, I mean, not 'no,'" Cat stuttered. "No way, I mean."
"Zat's worse, I theenk," Andrei mumbled as he exchanged a dejected look with his wife.
Pavel quirked an eyebrow. "Let's start over."
Cat laughed and nodded. Her eyes sparkled and wide, almost maniacal smile threatened to bruise her cheeks.
"Marry me, Cat. I know it hasn't been long, but zis is just- zis is perfect. You are perfect." Pavel's heart seemed to have stopped beating, then continued pounding with renewed vigor. "If you marry me, we won't ever be separated by ze Starfleet. I wouldn't know what to do if zat happened."
Cat realized she'd been nodding the entire time Pavel was speaking. "Yes, of course." She held out her trembling hand for Pavel to put the ring on her. The ring itself was nothing but sparkles.
"I hope zose hands don't shake like zat during surgery," Alexei laughed.
"So you'll have to video conference us in to ze wedding," Sasha stated matter-of-factly.
Cat shook her head. "We could never do it without you."
"Of course not. I was theenking we could enjoy a long engagement," Pavel explained. "We'll get married, but not right away. Perheps in three years? Next time we come home?"
Cat nodded. "Yes! The next time we're home – here in Russia."
Andrei nodded. "Welcome to family. Alexei, why you don't marry nice girl? Be more like your brother!"
Alexei groaned and plopped back onto the couch before raising an eyebrow at the couple. "Welcome to ze family, Cat. You haff ruined my life."
New Year's Eve found Dr. Greenberg curled up against Pavel on the couch as the couple watched a broadcast of celebration preparations around the world.
"Zis ball drop – haff you been to zat? Ze American one?" Pavel asked. He looked down when Cat didn't reply. "Oh," he whispered to no one in particular. His new fiance was sleeping with her head resting on his shoulder. He craned his neck to see her face. She briefly batted open an eye, studied him, then drifted back to sleep.
I cannot be marrying her, Pavel thought in disbelief. The harsh vibrating of his communicator broke his awe. He flipped it open and was surprised to see Captain Kirk's name as the message sender.
"Happy New Year. Hope you and Cat are enjoying Russia, and that you're all healed. Eternally sorry. The admiral refused my resignation. I don't deserve crew members like you. New bottle of scotch will be waiting in your locker. See you in two weeks!"
Pavel grinned. All was well once again on the Enterprise. Resting his cheek against Cat's head, he sighed joyfully. All was well on earth.