Author's Note: Sorry for the late update.
Disclaimer: I own none of the Star Trek characters.
Chapter 52
Pavel nearly had a heart attack a few days later when Spock told him that a highly respected priestess was demanding an audience with him. T'Pau had apparently demanded, in a very Vulcan way, that she needed to speak with Spock. Not wanting to cause a scene on bridge, Spock agreed and arranged for them to meet in a conference room on the Enterprise. She has voiced her displeasure of the location, but Spock remained firm in wanting to be close to his family.
They had been in that conference room for most of the day now and Pavel was starting to worry. For all he knew neither Vulcan had eaten anything since they started talking. Sighing, the blonde placed the last cover on the food that he had set on the table they had moved into the twins' room. Political repercussions or not, Spock would be eating with them! Even if he had to invite T'Pau to dinner to accomplish it!
"Mama, are ve going to get Papa now?" Lysuya asked while tugging on his pant leg.
"Yes, ve are going to get your Papa. Go get your brother and your sehlats." He patted her on the head.
"Vitaliy! Ve are going to get Papa! Kotehok and Eshikh are coming too!" the little girl yelled to her brother.
"Lyusya, inside voice," Pavel scolded as the two recently named sehlats can charging in from the other room, followed by Vitaliy who was rubbing at his right eye. "You know Vitaliy vas trying to meditate."
"Sorry," she told her brother.
"Is fine. Meditation is hard vithout Papa helping," Vitaliy stopped for a moment to yawn behind his hand. "I fell asleep."
Pavel chuckled at the two. They were so different yet so similar. Kotehok, Lyusya's large sehlat cub, nudged her playfully. She smiled at it, rubbing the top of its head and ruffling its fur. Vitaliy picked up his tiny whining sehlat which he had named Eshikh and nuzzled the cub. The Russian would never understand why they both picked such simple words for names, but at least the beasts had names now. Although, one name was Vulcan and the other was in Russian.
"Come, ve must make sure Papa eats dinner."
Smiling, Pavel led the way to the conference room that had held Spock captive for the last several hours. Lyusya walked ahead of the group, Kotehok happily pacing at her side as an ever present bodyguard. Vitaliy held onto his mother's hand with his Eshikh scampering to keep up on the little boy's other side. By this point Pavel had become rather accustomed to ignoring the gossip around his family as they traveled through the halls. There were only so many times he can stand hearing others coo at the twins before he wanted to punch something. Yes the two are cute, but there are other things to talk about.
Sighing at the sight of a security officer standing next to the door Pavel knew for a fact that the two Vulcans were still in there.
"You can't go in there," the young man, but still older than Pavel, informed him as he approached the door.
"Vell has Spock or T'Pau eaten anything in zere? I know zere is no replicator in zat room." The officer gave him a dirty look that answered his question rather nicely. "Zen I am going in zere to tell zem to come eat."
Brushing past the glaring man, the blonde opened the door and nearly staggered at the shear amount of silent animosity in the room. Spock and T'Pau sat across from each other in thick silence. Judging from the looks on both of their faces, they had been at a standstill for a while now. So that explained why Spock's side of the bond had been strangely silent. Even though neither moved, Pavel could tell their attention had shifted to him.
"So you are still here," he commented idly.
Lyusya bounded into the room with Kotehok at her side. She took hold of Spock's sleeve and tugged on it.
"Papa, it is dinner time and you have been gone all day," she complained in a slightly whiny voice.
"Lyusya, no whining," Spock lightly reprimanded. Though she did not verbally respond, the little girl did duck her head. The saying "actions speak louder than words" is completely true when it came to Lyusya.
Regardless of where they had apparently left off in their discussion, Spock stood from his seat ready to depart.
"You are velcome to join us as vell, Preistess T'Pau," Pavel offered while Spock gave Kotehok a pet on the head. "I am sure you vould like something after spending so much time in here."
After dealing with Spock for so long, Pavel had learned that most Vulcans could be swayed based on their need to be polite and logical. He had her cornered and she knew it.
"Very well."
Thus the crew of the Enterprise finally had something else to talk about other than how cute the Chekov twins were. After all, it wasn't everyday that one saw the family of four invite another Vulcan into their rooms, let alone an influential one.
When Spock paused for the briefest of moments at seeing the food, once it was all uncovered, Pavel felt pride well up inside of him. He had tried to make a few of the simpler Vulcan dishes that Spock had admitted to liking. The owners at the food shops had been extremely helpful, though the young man had a feeling that he may have been overcharged, but it was worth it to see that sparkle of surprise and love in his Vulcan's eyes. Taking a chance to glance at T'Pau he was surprised to notice that she seemed a little impressed.
"Pavel, you did not have to," Spock murmured as he settled his impatient daughter into her chair.
"I vanted to," Pavel laughed while he let Vitaliy climb into his chair and directed T'Pau to hers.
The entire affair was relatively silent. There was the usual mindless chatter from the twins. Scolding the two for trying to give food they didn't like to their sehlats who were sitting under the table. Spock even gave him a smile when he tried the Vulcan dishes. There was even a moment where Pavel caught T'Pau taking extra servings of those same dishes. It seemed like almost no time had passed, but eventually the meal did end.
The twins went off to do their studies while Pavel started putting the leftovers into storable containers that he then placed in the small mini fridge in their room. They had toddlers so having leftovers around was always a good idea.
Although Pavel had told the twins it was rude to listen in on other peoples' conversations, he couldn't help overhearing T'Pau as Spock escorted her out of their rooms towards the teleporters.
"Acceptable."
Whatever she was talking about, Pavel hoped it was about his family.
