Hey folks! Sorry about the delay in the update. I was supposed to update yesterday, but instead I did the 'Race For Life 2009'. It's a 3 mile charity race in support of beating breast cancer. The weather was sooooo hot but I finished it and got a medal at the end, so all in all, it was worth it. I felt a sense of accomplishment at the end lol.

Well this is the chapter you have all been waiting for! I think I say this about every chapter, but this one is definitely my favourite for obvious reasons. I hope you enjoy it and updates will be back to normal from now on - every other day.

Disclaimer: I do not own Star Trek. I only own my OC and boy, do I wish I was her right now!

"We need to lose him" Luke said to Lizzie.

"Who the hell is he?" she asked, panic clear in her voice.

"No idea, but we need to lose him…fast."

They continued to run, when another gunshot was heard. But this time, Lizzie stopped running as she felt her left hand weigh her down. When she looked, Luke was lying on the ground beneath her, perfectly still, blood pouring from his head. Dead.

"LUKE!" she screamed. Oh god, her brother was dead……her brother was dead. How could he be dead? He was Luke, he was the one who called her names, he was the one who looked after her when she was sad, he was her big brother. Dead.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH…………….."

Lizzie had woken up and had shot up straight in her bed. She was wide-eyed, and sweating, panting heavily, trying to calm herself down.

"Its just a dream" she told herself. "It was just a dream." She could feel tears streaming down her face.

It had been a 2 days since she had spoken to Chekov about her father and her brother and ever since then, she had had the same nightmare every night. She would relive the moment her brother died and wake up screaming in a cold sweat, struggling to catch her breath.

Bang, Bang, Bang.

"Lizzie let me in. You ok? I heard you scream." came a voice from the other side of the door.

"Its open Nyota" Lizzie shouted back, just about catching her breath. She was glad that Uhura's quarters were right next to hers.

As the door slid open, Uhura came running in and sat on the bed next to Lizzie, putting an arm around her.

"You had the dream again didn't you?"

"Yeah" Lizzie replied quietly, resting her head on Uhura's shoulder, still trying to calm down. Uhura rubbed a loving hand up and down Lizzie's arm as she held her.

"Its ok, I'm here now" Uhura moved to look Lizzie in the face. "I'll stay with you as long as you need me."

"Thanks Nyota" she replied. Uhura gave her a warm smile.

Lizzie had really taken with Uhura these past few days. They would talk at lunch times and when Lizzie wasn't with Chekov, she would hang out with her. Uhura was like the big sister she never had. However she was now taking the place of 'mother.' It was the second night she had come in and helped Lizzie to calm down. On a ship where most of her friends were male, Lizzie was grateful for Nyota.

After 10 minutes, Lizzie finally calmed down enough for Uhura to leave. She wished her a goodnight before leaving and returning to her own quarters. Lizzie looked at her clock. 5am. She would have to get up in a hour anyway and so decided to get up now and get ready for the day.

She had a quick shower before blowing drying her hair and straightening her fringe and then decided to get dressed. She was ready for the day, but it was only 5.30am. She looked round her room for something to do before heading out for breakfast and spotted a pile of books on her desk which Pike had given her. She looked through the many books before coming across a cookery book. This gave her an idea.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"I'm cooking a meal for us all tonight" Lizzie said to the table. After looking through the cookery book and decided what she was going to do, she had made her way to the Mess Hall for breakfast and was eventually joined by the rest of the bridge.

"A meal?" Kirk asked her.

"Uh-huh" Lizzie replied, beaming. "Its to say thank you for having me and to celebrate me finally getting out of Sickbay. So, can you all come?" She looked at each face eagerly, awaiting everyone's answer.

"I vould be wery happy to come Lizzie" Chekov told her, happy to be spending more time with her.

"Great! How about the rest of you guys?"

"Well I'd be happy to-" Kirk started.

"None of us can come Lizzie!" Uhura suddenly perked up, putting a hand over Kirk's mouth.

"You cant?" Lizzie asked.

"We cant?" Kirk asked, finally removing Uhura's hand.

"No. Jim, Bones, Sulu and Scotty are doing the night shift tonight and me and Spock already have plans. Sorry sweetie."

Bones, figuring out what Uhura was doing, joined the conversation. "Yeah, night shift. Sorry."

"Oh, right" Lizzie replied, a little down heartened.

"But don't put it off on our account. You and Chekov have fun." Uhura said with a smile.

"Are you ok with that Pavel?" she asked the Russian.

"Yes, if you are" he replied, practically screaming with joy in his head at the prospect of having dinner with Lizzie.

"Ok then. Be at my quarters for 7pm." She carried on eating her breakfast then, a smile secretly in her head. The whole evening alone with Pavel, she couldn't wait.

After half an hour, Lizzie and Scotty took their leave to go to the engineering bay, whilst Sulu, Chekov and Spock hastily made their way to the bridge. Uhura, Bones and Kirk were a few paces behind, deep in conversation.

"Hey, what was all that about? I wanted to go for the meal" said Kirk, sulking a little.

"Geez Jim" Bones started. "You don't get it do you?"

"Get what?"

Uhura spoke up. "Lizzie and Chekov…….having dinner?" Kirk looked confused. "……..together." he remained confused. "Alone!"

"Ohhhhh…. I get it! Alone." At this he wiggled his eyebrows.

"Exactly. They've had these feelings for weeks, tonight may be the night." Uhura squealed with excitement causing Bones and Kirk to laugh.

"I hope so" said Bones. "Because if that kid comes to me or Sulu one more time telling us how much he loves her, I'm gonna kick his sorry ass."

"Loves her?" Kirk and Uhura both said in unison, looking at Bones.

"That's what he said.

"Oh its so romantic" smiled Uhura, the three of them discussing the meal on their way to the bridge.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Lizzie, I ave something to tell you, I love you."

"I am so wery much in love with you Lizzie."

"I love you vith all my eart."

"Zhis is never going to vork." Chekov hung his head, feeling a little down heartened. He had been standing in front of the mirror in his quarters for 20 minutes trying to figure out the best way to tell Lizzie of his feelings. He had been talking to Bones about it for a few days now, much to Bones' annoyance. However he had finally come to the realisation that these feelings were more than he first anticipated. After the incident in the observatory, he realised that it was love that he felt for Lizzie. He was in love with her.

But now it was 6.55pm and Lizzie expected him in 5 minutes and he still hadn't figured out the perfect way to tell her. He had decided to tell her at the meal. He knew it would be a romantic setting and decided it was now or never. So without much thought, he headed out of his quarters and down to Lizzie's, putting on a brave face.

He knocked the door before he heard Lizzie's voice telling him to come in. He entered and noticed her on the far side of the room over by the stove, several pans on the hob were simmering away, the delicious smell of food lingering in the air.

"Hi Pavel!" Lizzie said enthusiastically, turning around to greet him. "How are you?"

"Wery vell, thank you" he told her trying to build himself, getting ready to pour his heart out to her.

"Good, well dinner is almost done. Do you like cottage pie and vegetables?"

"Yes wery much."

"Good because that's what your having!" Lizzie laughed a little, causing Chekov to blush. Damn it! When would he ever stop doing that because of her smile. It was like his Achilles heel.

Chekov took his place at Lizzie's desk, which she had set out like a dining table. There were knives and forks set out, two glasses of wine and a lit candle in the middle of the finally brought over the food as Chekov gazed at the layout. She sat down herself and they both began to eat.

"Zhis is delicious!" Chekov said, taking a mouth full of the food.

"Really?" Lizzie asked eagerly.

"Yes, it is beautiful." He ate some more.

"My mom used to make it for me and my brother, so when I found the recipe, I couldn't resist."

"Vell I like it wery much." He took another bite.

"I can see that" Lizzie replied, laughing.

When the two of them had finished eating, Lizzie took the empty plates over to the sink, ready to be washed up later on.

"Pavel?"

"Yes Lizzie?"

"Normally, after a meal, people offer around coffee, but since I hate the stuff, how do you feel about hot chocolate?"

"I vould wery much like some Lizzie" Chekov told her taking a seat on a small sofa, watching her as she made the drinks. She was so beautiful. Chekov knew it was now or never, so when Lizzie came over with the hot chocolate, he decided he had to let her know now. She handed him his drink and put her drink down on a table and took a seat next to Chekov.

"Zhis is wery yummy" he told her, taking a sip, before putting his own drink down next to Lizzie's.

"Thank you" she said to him.

This was it.

"Listen Lizzie, zhere is something I need to talk to you about" he began.

"Oh. Is something wrong?"

"No, well yes, well no." He was confused about what to say. Lizzie gave him a confused look.

"It is just that we ave known each other now for many veeks and you hawe become a good friend and I enjoy spending time with you Lizzie. I enjoy your company and you make me laugh and smile and ve get along wery vell and….."

Chekov was beginning to ramble, falling over his own words. But as he was speaking, Lizzie could not help thinking how cute his rambling was and could not stop looking at his lips. What Chekov didn't know was that Lizzie had been having the same thoughts about telling him how she felt tonight. She too had been looking in the mirror, trying to think of the right thing to say. Right now though, she could not stop looking at his lips.

"……and your cooking vas wery nice and so is your hospitality and…….."

She knew she wouldn't be able to get a word in at this rate. She had to do something to shut him up.

Before she realised what she was doing, she leaned forward and put her lips on his, silencing him. She quickly realised what she had done and pulled away, slightly embarrassed. Chekov was looking at her wide-eyed.

"Oh god. I'm sorry Pavel, its just…" But before she could finish, Chekov leaned forward, bring his lips to hers and kissed her, putting his hand on her soft pink cheek. The kiss was soft, it was slow and it was perfect, everything Lizzie had dreamed off. They slowly pulled away, looking deeply into each others eyes, brown orbs meeting blue.

"I love you Elizabeth Voods" Chekov stated, finally saying what he had been trying to say all night.

"You what?"

"I love you, I ave since zhat day I met you at zhe academy. It just took me zhis long to figure it out."

Lizzie could not help the smile that appeared on her face and the tears of happiness that streamed down her face as she embraced him in a hug, holding him as tight as she could.

"I love you too Pavel" she whispered softly in his ear, before pulling away and capturing his lips with hers once again. He put one hand to her cheek and the other around her waist pulling her as close to him as possible as she brought her arms around his neck. The kiss was deep and meaningful, both of them hoping to stay like that forever, getting lost in the moment.

A/N: AT LAST!!