Author's Note:

Greetings all and sundry. Here is the fourth chapter and it will not be as depressing as the previous ones. It also contains the fluff I promised and quite a good bit of it. Thank you for your support of this story and I hope you enjoy the chapter.

As per the norm I own nothing.

Jim Wakes

The following days passed by quickly and although Pavel was still withdrawn and quiet he had noticeably improved.

He was spending less time in his room and would join them for most meals. He was also spending a lot of time with Jim at the hospital and McCoy was saying that it seemed to be causing Jim to recover even more quickly. It had now been about two weeks since Khan and Bones had excitedly announced that Jim was about to wake up. As such they were all at the hospital for when he was due to wake though Spock was the only one in the room with him and McCoy. They waited impatiently to be told it was ok for them to go in as well and eventually Bones came out. The doctor quickly stalled their questions, "Jim's doing fine and you can go and see him but I only want a couple of people at a time."

Nyota headed in first since Winona had wanted to be last and Spock was already inside. Pavel was fidgeting nervously in one of the seats and Winona came and sat next to him.

"Are you worried about speaking to him?" she asked quietly so the others didn't hear.

Pavel looked at her and just nodded and she placed a comforting arm around his shoulders, "Don't worry; he is going to be very happy to see you."

Pavel wasn't convinced but nodded anyway.

When Nyota came back with Spock, Scotty and Hikaru went in together leaving Pavel and Winona to wait. As time went by Pavel got more and more anxious about seeing his Papa. He'd been visiting regularly during the last few days but with Jim now awake he was worried that his Papa would be disappointed with his performance in Engineering and give voice to it. Pavel didn't think he would be able to take that. Eventually Hikaru and Scotty were ejected from Jim's room by McCoy and, with a bit of encouragement from Winona, Pavel made his way to his Papa's room.

When he entered he saw that Jim was propped upright in his bed by pillows and was looking very alert for someone who was in a coma about an hour ago. McCoy was to the side giving them some space. Jim gave him a broad smile when he saw Pavel and spoke, "Hi Pasha, how you doing?"

Pavel shuffled nervously, "I'm fine sor."

Jim frowned slightly and gestured for him to come closer and looked concerned when Pavel hesitated, "Pavel, what's wrong?"

Pavel opened his mouth a couple of times but didn't answer as he stood awkwardly next to the bed. Jim took his hand and his look of concern deepened, "Pasha, why are you crying?"

Pavel suddenly noticed that there were tears coming down his face and before he could stop himself he began sobbing, "I'm sorry Papa, eet's all my fault and I'm so sorry."

He continued to sob as Jim pulled him into a hug and began to run his hand through Pavel's hair, "It's ok Pasha, you don't have anything to be sorry for." Pavel's sobs got a bit quieter as Jim continued, "None of it was your fault, it was Khan and Marcus who caused it all. You did everything you could in Engineering and there is no reason for you to blame yourself." Pavel pulled away a bit and Jim looked him right in the eye, "I put you in a very pressured position and you did an amazing job. You helped me and Scotty get the Warp core running again and you were exceptionally accurate in beaming Spock and Nyota down to Earth which helped them immensely in catching Khan. You also saved mine and Scotty's lives when you managed to catch us in Engineering." He pulled Pavel back into a hug, "You've done all of us proud and no-one is more proud than me so stop blaming yourself because you didn't do anything wrong."

Pavel gave a sniff, "Sank you Papa."

Jim smiled, "Anytime Pasha, I love you."

"I love you to Papa."

PS-A bit shorter than the others but I thought it best to leave it where it was. I'll only have one more chapter but you'll get to see Jim's reaction to his mother being there so watch this space.