A/N: Just realized how long it's been since I posted and quickly whipped this out so people would know I'm still alive. lol. Enjoy! - pj
The Captain returned from his impromptu away mission almost an hour later, but Jo waited to tell him about her 'conversation' with the admiral until it was almost the end of their shift. She made sure she'd first helped him complete all the post mission reports, and all they had left to do was file the Captain's personal log, which he seemed to like to do on his own.
She stood up to leave after he'd dismissed her, but hesitated in front of his desk.
Jim glanced up after a moment, eyebrows raised, "something else?"
Jo nodded once and cleared her throat, "I, uh, think I may have pissed of Admiral Choice."
"Chioce." He corrected.
"Okay, not what's important right now, Jim," she'd been careful to call him 'Captain' all day, so the slip into informality struck him as strange. Obviously this was bothering her, a conclusion which was supported by her tensely balled fists, so he gave her his full attention.
"What'd you do?"
She took a step back and tried to look offended, "what makes you think I-" she stopped at his raised eyebrow and sighed, "I hung up on her."
He stared at her silently for a moment, "that it?"
"Yes… No…mostly."
"What else?"
She shifted on her feet and crossed and uncrossed her arms, glancing around the cabin in an attempt to look disinterested but failing miserably, "I told her 'don't call us we'll call you'."
Jim gave her a look, "and what did she say?"
"Um," she shook her head, "I-"
"Hung up on her, right," he lowered his eyes to his desk for a moment and Jo waited with stiff-backed apprehension for the explosion, ready to defend her actions vehemently should she need to.
The Admiral had been a royal jerk after all.
Her mouth nearly dropped open when he looked back up at her and was grinning.
"I think you're going to fit in here just fine," he said, a mischievous sparkle he was known for in his eyes.
Jo was appalled, "you're encouraging this kind of behavior? I thought I was supposed to get reformed on this ship."
Jim's grin cocked to one side and he shrugged, "I'll take care of Admiral Chioce. You go get something to eat, try to relax and get some sleep tonight. I'll see you here bright and early and 0800 tomorrow."
Jo gave him a look, her disbelieving scowl slowly turning to a reluctantly amused smile, because not even she was completely immune to JTK charm.
"Yes sir." She turned to leave, suddenly aware of how hungry she was and wondering what was being replicated in the Caf.
"Oh and Jo," he called, and she turned back to him, "all new crewmembers are required to go through a physical and update their medical records with the CMO," he made a point to make eye contact, "Yeomen included."
And just like that, the good feeling was gone.
"But-"
"No buts, this is one regulation you can't break, Jo."
Jo sighed, her shoulders slumping, "Fine."
"That's more like it."
"Yeah, yeah," she muttered, exiting the Ready Room to the bridge.
Kirk smile faded as he shook his head, "can't avoid him forever, Joey."
---
As far as Jo was concerned, getting sustenance was more important than a physical so, naturally, the Caf was her first stop. She walked up to the counter and took a tray and watched in semi horror as strange colored, possibly still living things were piled onto her plate.
She gave the wiggly green things that were trying to escape into her mashed potatoes a wary look and looked up at the servers, "got any pizza?"
She wasn't sure what all of those words meant, but the answer seemed to be unanimous. So she swiped a tame looking bottle of orange juice from the cooler, deposited her entire untouched tray into the recycling chamber and was about to leave for a properly replicated meal in her quarters when a blonde head of curls caught her eye.
She smiled and effortlessly weaved her way through the thinning crowd to a small table near the windows.
"I hear you stuck up for me earlier, on the bridge," she commented as she sat down, opening her orange juice to take a swig.
"Oh," Chekov put down a PADD and gave her a nervous smile, "hello, Yeoman. Um, yes, vell, I," he cleared his throat and shifted on his seat, concentrating on his nearly empty tray in front of him, "I know what it's like to be picked on because you're differ'nt. Because people assume somezing about you that isn't necessarily true."
Jo smiled at his empathy, absently scratching at the label on her bottle, "yeah…well people are usually right about me so..." she shrugged.
Chekov, in a moment of uncharacteristic self-assurance shook his head, a few curls bobbing on his forehead and looked her in the eye, "they veren't today."
Jo held his gaze and gave him a real smile for the first time. The young Ensign felt his heart rate speed up exponentially at the sight of it.
"So what are you working on there?" She broke eye contact and leaned across the table to get a glance at his PADD.
"Trigonometry," he said, pushing it toward her, "it relaxes me."
"Relaxes you?" Jo repeated disbelievingly, giving a quick glance at the figures and immediately deciding it was far over her head, "what's wrong with a beer and counting sheep?"
Chekov laughed quietly, gazing down at the elegant numbers, "I always liked math."
"Really? Did you study it in school?" Jo reached up to unpin her hair, causing the uneven strands to fall down, draping one side of her face.
"Oh, uh, no," he replied, trying to keep his mind on the conversation. He'd never seen hair that color before, "I mostly studied engineering and physics, but math usually vent hand in hand so, I used it a lot. You?"
"No, not really," she shook her head and flipped the long hair away from her face, "I had other priorities in school."
"Like vhat?"
The twinkle in Jo's eyes turned a little bit dangerous. It reminded Chekov of when someone told Dr. McCoy the Captain was keeping an injury from him.
"Making my mother's life a living hell," she said with a haunted grin.
"Oh," he wasn't sure what to say to that, so he went back to finishing up what little was left of the food on his plate.
"Yeah, not exactly a noble calling but it was mine," Jo shrugged, turning her head to look out at the stars, talking almost without realizing it, "getting called out of a charity ball to bail your delinquent daughter out of jail is bound to put a damper on anyone's night."
"But…you seem so smart," Chekov said after a moment, he seemed deeply troubled by what she said, "vy would you do zat?"
She hesitated and got a cloudy look in her eyes, "to get her to look at me instead of through me," she swallowed hard and turned back to Chekov, blushing slightly to realize how much she'd said. She didn't usually do that.
She never did, actually. But there was something…unassuming about the young ensign. Something patient and calming.
Something she liked.
"Did it vork?" Chekov asked with more understanding in his voice than she expected.
"Sometimes," she took a breath and shifted in her chair, "what about you?" He gave her a confused look and she clarified, "your equation. Did it vork?"
He smiled good-naturedly at her teasing and looked back down at the PADD in his hands, "Yes. I believe it vill."
Jo's smile brightened when his eyes shone with glee and she nodded, flipping her hair in an unintentionally flirty way, "Good to hear Chekov."
He dropped his eyes and shifted a little and Jo frowned.
"What is it?"
He cleared his throat, "I vas just thinking, it might be alright if you vanted to call me by my first name."
"But I thought Chekov was-" she stopped. Right. It's Surname and Rank, "okay, what's your full name?"
"Pavel Andreievich Chekov."
Her eyebrows flew up, "that's a mouthful." A cockeyed grin somewhat reminiscent of a friendlier, prettier version of McCoy's half-mouthed scowl took her lips and she repeated the name back to him. He nodded that she had pronounced it acceptably.
"Andreievich like…Andre? Or Andy?"
Chekov frowned, "No, well, I don't know. No one has ever called me zat before."
She smiled and shifted one leg beneath her, "well, I won't call you that if you don't want me to. I'm just a huge fan of nicknames."
"But I thought nicknames had to do with a characteristic of the person. It's vy people call me 'whiz kid' and sings like zat."
"Well, yeah, in the traditional sense, but I like to use regular names as nicknames. My friend Kelly, I always called her Susan. And my mom's boyfriends were always Felix, no matter what their real names were."
"Like your fazer always calls the captain 'Jim', even though his name is James."
She nodded enthusiastically, "exactly."
Chekov seemed thoughtful for a moment and then nodded, "Okay. I wouldn't mind if you called me zat."
Jo grinned and Chekov blushed.
"Cool," she said, biting her lip in a nervous way he didn't quite understand. "Well, I guess I'll let you get back to your work," she gestured at his PADD, "but I'll see you around, right?"
"Of course. We work ze same shift on ze bridge."
"Right," she sighed and after a moment, moved to stand. "See you tomorrow, Andy."
Chekov smiled and gave a slight nod, "goodnight Yeoman McCoy."
"Jo," she said softly, "call me Jo."
He nodded, "goodnight Jo."
Chekov watched her leave and didn't get another thing done for the rest of the evening.
TBC