You traced a finger down Pavel's jaw, smiling at his sleeping face with tired eyes. He had inadvertently spent the night in your room on your bed. Nothing had happened, except that the two of you cuddled on the bed as you watched Old Earth films. The two of you didn't mean to fall asleep; it was an innocent mistake.
You timidly kissed Chekov's cheek then gently laid your head on his chest and listened to him breathe.
You looked at the clock on your nightstand and saw that it was almost time to get to work in engineering but you were reluctant at the thought. You were too busy listening to Pavel's heartbeat to care about getting to work on time.
"Good moorning…" Chekov said in a drowsy tone. It made you gasp as he squirmed and sat up, grinning at you.
"Good merning." You greeted him, still struggling a bit when it came to actually talking.
Chekov looked serene and leaned towards you to kiss you.
After pulling away, he realized what time it was and where exactly he was.
"O-Oh! I em so sorry, (Y/N)!" he exclaimed bashfully, practically leaping from the bed.
You giggled and watched him put his boots on frantically.
"Don't be late fer werk!" you called after him, slurring your words slightly. He ran for the door, stopped and turned, ran to you to place a quick kiss on your lips, then ran out the door hurriedly.
You slid off your bed sleepily and changed from your pajamas and into your Starfleet uniform; you listened contentedly to the ruffle and fold of the fabric of your clothes against your skin as you fiddled with straps and such.
You walked leisurely through the halls towards Engineering, letting the flood of whirring and small talk and the clip-clop of boots on the floors flow into your ears, rather than overwhelmed yourself by resisting the sounds; hearing was very new for you and therefore even the simplest of sounds was fascinating.
Your favorite sound to listen to was that of someone's breathing or their heartbeat.
"There you are, Lassie!" Scotty's voice sounded exasperated as he walked up to you when you opened the door to Engineering.
"I need you to take these," he handed you a few tools and turned you in the direction he wanted you to go.
"And go show those bloody morons down in the weapons docks how to safely repair the lazers before they blow up the whole bloody ship!"
You giggled and nodded, walking swiftly down the hall towards the designated location.
You did as Scotty asked and showed the engineers in the weapons docks how to repair the lazers safely; you showed them kindly, patiently, and efficiently, gaining you respect and a few thanks and smiles.
You made your way back to Scotty who waved you off as he was busy yelling at a few people and that "bloody gremlin" of his.
You stood and waited for him to finish. After a few moments he noticed you still standing there and turned to speak with you.
"Here, take these to the Captain and get his signature. The you can have the rest of the day to yourself, Lassie." He said, putting on a smile at the end of his sentence. He handed you a few papers and a pen and sent you on your way with a pat on your head before he turned back to his latest victims and resumed his angry shouting.
Once on the bridge, you walked up to Captain Kirk and handed him the papers and the pen.
"Scotty wants you to sign these." You said slowly, trying to get all the words right without slurring.
The Captain rolled his eyes then smiled at you, signing the papers quickly. You looked over your shoulder and grinned at Chekov who was casting glances your way. You waved slightly and he did the same. The Captain cleared his throat and you quickly looked at him, blushing in embarrassment.
Captain Kirk smiled amusedly and handed the papers back to you, his very blue eyes twinkling.
"Mr. Sulu, are we in position?" he asked the pilot.
"Yes, Captain. We are stable enough over the M5 planet to beam you and your team down." Hikaru Sulu said, turning to look at Kirk.
"Chekov, get Commander Spock on the bridge." Kirk said, standing and setting a hand on your shoulder.
"(Y/N), I wanted to ask you something," he started. You looked up at him with curiosity.
"Is it okay with you if I take Chekov to the M5 planet on my team?" he asked.
"Uh…" you looked at Chekov then back at the Captain. You didn't want anything to ever happen to him and even though you panicked slightly at the thought, you nodded at Kirk. The Captain smiled.
"Chekov." He said. The young man looked up at his Captain expectantly.
"Yes Keptin?" he wondered.
"Miss Kortul will take your place while you leave with me and the exploration team." He said bluntly and walked off to talk to Commander Spock who had just arrived on the bridge.
"I…what?!" he exclaimed, his face lighting up excitedly.
"Yes Keptin!" he said and leapt to his feet, running to you and hugging you in his excitement. You laughed and hugged him back.
You followed the exploration team, Chekov, Kirk, Uhura, Spock, and Scotty, to the teleportation room where they would be beamed down to the M5 planet below them. Since Mr. Scott was going away, he put you in charge of Engineering along with one of his other finest workers. Everyone stepped on their transports except for Chekov who lingered behind, embracing you. He kissed you, even though everyone was watching, and scampered off to his transport.
"Don't woorry, (Y/N)," Pavel said.
"I'll be beck before yoo know eet." He smiled before everyone disassembled into little beads of light and were gone.
The whole rest of the day, you wandered about, overseeing Engineering down below but everything was in perfect enough order. There wasn't much for you to do without Chekov there. You knew you shouldn't worry but you couldn't help it.
It was when you were walking slowly into your room after dinner that Hikaru Sulu, who was put in charge of the ship while the Captain was gone, called your new communicator.
You opened the device.
"Miss (Y/LN)?" he started.
"Yes?" you answered.
"I thought it best to inform you that the exploration team cannot be found and their communicators are not responding." He didn't sound worried but he did sound apologetic.
"I will tell you if we regain contact with the team as soon as we do."
You dropped the communicator and started to panic. You ran out of your room and hurried to Bones' office. You couldn't think straight.
Once you made it to his office, Bones looked at you confusedly.
"Hey, what's the matter?" he asked. You ran up to him and buried you face in his shirt and began to cry bitterly.
"What happened?" he asked, rubbing your back in a soothing way.
"Mr. Sulu sed he dusn't know where the exploration teem is!" you sobbed, not caring if you said anything right.
Bones didn't say anything for a long moment.
"I'm sure they're fine, (Y/N)." Bones reassured you, letting you cry all you wanted; his slight southern drawl was soothing.
"Let's just wait and see."