Author's Note: So, I am behind now because of my dumb email (curse you Microsoft!). Anyway, this little oneshot will be kind of Chekov-centric (one, because that's the idea that I got and two, because many people have asked for more Chekov [he's ADORABLE!]). I can't write accents, so I apologize in advance. Plenty of the "uninhabited planet is really inhabited" cliché. Intended as Chulu but I guess you can read it as friendship.

Chapter Eighteen: R

Restless

When Chekov began to wake up, he felt the pull of the sedative trying to coax him back to unconsciousness. Cracking his eyes slightly, he saw the glare of light and heard the muffled sounds of arguing voices.

"Dammit, Jim, he almost died!" Pavel immediately recognized Doctor McCoy's voice, thick with his Georgian accent.

"I know," came his Captain's strained tone. Chekov saw that Kirk looked exhausted.

Pavel tried to sit up a bit, but a sharp stab of pain stopped him. Biting his lip to keep from crying out, Chekov only succeeded in bracing himself on his elbows. Clearing his throat slightly, he scratched out the words, "Who almost died?"

The response was immediate as he felt McCoy's hands pushing him down and heard Kirk apologizing profusely. McCoy's drawl was gentle and kind, completely out of character for the normally grumpy doctor. "Whoa, easy there, kid. Just lie back down for a second."

Complying, Pavel eased himself back down onto the biobed. Looking around, the world spun a bit and he saw double as the drugs in his system made it difficult to focus.

"Chekov, Chekov, focus on McCoy for a second," Jim requested. Chekov's head lolled to the side. He watched carefully as Leonard lifted up the Russian's medical gown, causing Kirk to turn around to give Chekov some privacy. McCoy scowled at Pavel's bruised and pale stomach. Gently poking at the muscular torso, Leonard said, "Tell me when you feel any pain."

After he gently pressed his along his ribs and torso Chekov whimpered as the doctor's hand brushed over an extremely sensitive spot.

". . . Damn lucky he jumped in front of him. Took two old fashioned projectiles to the upper body and was grazed by a wild phaser blast to the bottom of his ribcage. Could've been much worse." Chekov strained to listen as McCoy spoke quietly but angrily with Kirk.

"Who is lucky?" Pavel asked groggily.

McCoy and Kirk looked at each other, faces full of concern and sadness.

"You are," Kirk said gently. "If Sulu hadn't jumped in front of you..."

As soon as Kirk said the name Sulu, Chekov began to get anxious. The monitor next to him beeped wildly as his heart raced with fear.

"Karu? Is he okay? Where is he? YA khochu videt' Khikaru!" Chekov squirmed and cried out in pain as McCoy scrambled to calm the young man down. Leonard gently spoke to Pavel, trying to explain that he shouldn't overexcite himself.

"Chekov, come on," Kirk said soothingly. If Chekov had been paying attention, he would have noticed the concern and desperation on his Captain's face. "Pavel, you need to calm down."

The flood of memories hit Chekov like a ton of bricks and it was just too much for him. Slipping into unconsciousness, the last thing he heard was McCoy calling for Nurse Chapel and pleading with him to stay awake.

As the landing party stepped away from the beaming coordinates, Chekov bounce up and down in excitement.

"Pavel. Calm down," Hikaru laughed, putting his hand on the Russians head to try and hold him down.

Smiling, Pavel let the words tumble from his mouth like an avalanche. "I am sorry, 'Karu. I am just very excited. My first away mission!"

Sulu smiled and laughed as he watched his young friend act like a kid on Christmas. "Just do me a favor, Pav, and go spread your happiness to Lieutenant Mattick over there. He's grumpier than McCoy for some reason."

Nodding exuberantly, Pavel ran over to Mattick and struck up a conversation while collecting botanical samples. No one had expected the Natives to even exist, let alone have flintlock pistols. The ambush killed two security officers. The surviving members of the away team bolted, hoping that they could find shelter. The Natives raced after them, screaming and shouting in a language no one understood. When they finally found cover in a cave, Chekov used his communicator to request an emergency beam out. The communication with Scotty was spotty at best and it didn't take long to realize that they would have to make a run for it.

"Alright," Mattick said. "I'll go out first and do my best to take out as many of them as possible. If you can get behind a tree, you should be okay until Scotty beams you up."

Nodding reluctantly, the two members of the bridge crew crouched by the cave entrance while the only security officer left alive went out and was met with a full onslaught from the Natives. Finding cover, the redshirt began firing.

Sulu and Chekov waited until the Natives had to reload. When the gunshots became fewer and farther between, they made a run for it. Grabbing his communicator and screaming for the Enterprise to beam them out, Chekov was completely unaware that one of the Natives was coming up behind him. Sulu pushed him out of the way and for a moment, nothing registered. Then he felt a stabbing pain in his abdomen and heard a scream from Mattick. Before he knew it, they were back on the transporter pad and Sulu had collapsed, bleeding heavily from no less than five spots on his body.

"'Karu," Chekov whispered. He felt the pain in his stomach again and reached down to touched his shirt, his fingers coming up that, everything was in slow motion. Scotty jumped from his seat as Pavel fell to his knees, holding the spot on his shirt that was slowly turning maroon.

When Chekov awoke the second time, Uhura was next to him, holding his hand. She smiled softly, and in a gentle voice said, "Hey there sleepy head."

Pavel tried to return the smile, but it turned into a grimace as the pain in his torso increased. He felt the pinch of a hypo in his neack and then almost immediate relief.

"The Captain ordered Leonard to take a break so I was told that if you woke up, you would probably need that." Uhura stroked the top of his head gently, running her thumb along his forehead. "How are you feeling?"

"Confused," Pavel replied tiredly. "I remember a single Native firing their weapon, yet both 'Karu and I had multiple wounds. I do not understand."

"The Natives were using something similar to a blunderbuss. They load a lot of things like glass and nails down the barrell, so when the gun fires, they get a projectile spread similar to the photon torpedo spread the Enterprise sends out into space," Nyota said. They sat in a companionable silence for a few minutes until Kirk walked in with a small smile on his face.

"Hey, Chekov, I've got some good news for ya," the Captain began cheerfully.

Chekov furrowed his brow and asked, "Da, what?"

"Sulu's going to be fine and back on duty in a few weeks. You should be back on the bridge by the end of the week." Kirk ruffled Chekov's hair and sat on the biobed across from him. Apparently, McCoy had some sixth sense when it came to patients because the next moment he was also in the room; he checked out Chekov's stats and asked him if he was experiencing any ascertaining the information, McCoy turned to Kirk.

Pointing a finger at him, McCoy scowled. "This kid isn't going on another away mission until he's thirty-five! Also, I scheduled a sort of class with Giotto for you and Sulu to help you understand the term common sense a little better; I'm fed up with you two coming back in tatters!"

Jim pinched the bridge of his nose, obviously frustrated by the criticism coming from his friend. "Sulu and Chekov are fine. The Starfleet official who gave us the information on the planet said that it was uninhabited and I had no reason to believe they were wrong." Kirk continued to explain how a starship had visited the planet a few years back and had no issues.

As the Captain and Doctor argued, Uhura gave a smile to Chekov and slipped out.

"Uninhabited, my ass," McCoy grumbled, grabbing a hypo off the tray and gently administering it to the Ensign.

"I would surely hope your ass is uninhabited, Doctor McCoy," Chekov yawned, laying back and closing his eyes. He missed the wide smile on Kirk's face and the scowl that McCoy sent his way.

When Chekov and Sulu went back on duty, the Ensign refused to talk to his friend except in the utmost professional manner.

"Do we have the coordinates, sir?" Chekov asked, not looking in Hikaru's direction. The Asian man watched as his friend essentially ignored him, choosing instead to punch buttons on the console much harder than normal.

"Sure thing, Pav," he said hesitantly.

It went on like that the entire shift, with Chekov being as cold to Sulu as possible and Sulu doing his best to engage Chekov in some sort of friendly conversation. Uhura frowned as Pavel only spoke to Sulu when it was absolutely necessary. When shift was finally over, Pavel got up and left without saying a word. He practically ran back to his quarters, making it almost impossible for Sulu to catch up.

Holding his side because of the strain on his still healing wounds. Sulu stopped outside Chekov's door and took a minute to just breathe. Hikaru hit the buzzer.

"Who is it?" Pavel said through the comm. unit.

Sighing, Sulu said, "Pav? It's Hikaru. Come on man, open up." Sulu was met with silence and the door stayed closed. Pushing the button again, he said, "Pavel, pozhaluysta, otkroyte dver'."

The door slid open and Sulu stepped inside, waiting for his friend to greet him.

"What do you want?" Chekov's back was to him.

Sighing, Hikaru sat down on the sofa and waited. After a while, Pavel slinked over and plopped down next to Sulu.

"Now are you going to talk to me or am I going to have to do all the work?"

Pavel continued to ignore Sulu, staring at the wall instead. Grabbing Chekov's shoulders, Hikaru spun Chekov's upper body to face him. He sighed. "Chekov…"

"I thought you were dead," Pavel whispered angrily. "McCoy said I could have died and I would have if you hadn't jumped in front of me. The way he said it..." Trailing off, Chekov looked down, not wanting to face his friend.

"Hey," Sulu said gently. "Hey, I'm alive. See, I'm right here."

Chekov nodded, and grabbed Sulu's hand. Hiccupping, he said weakly, "Doctor McCoy said I can't go on another away mission until I'm thirty-five."

Hikaru laughed and patted Pavel's head. "That's probably not a bad idea."

Pavel smiled, remembering something else that Leonard had said. "He also said he was going to make you and the Captain take lessons on common sense from Mr. Giotto." The look on Sulu's face made Chekov laugh. "That's payback for jumping in front of me and nearly dying. Karma's a bitch, da?"

Hikaru guffawed at his friend's use of such a crude expression.

"What? Karma was invented in Russia."

After getting over his shock, Sulu laughed, saying, "No more hanging out with Kirk and Scotty."

This is officially the longest chapter. Whoot! Anyway, DragonsRme, I hope this was to your satisfaction (I could've done so much more, but I don't want to have to change the rating). And as for those of you who wanted more Chekov, I tried. I really tried to be nice, but Chekov was just begging for some whumpage and Sulu was screaming that he wanted to comfort his little Russian *cough cough boy*friend. Thanks to CurbItKirby for all the help and yes, I guess red shirts are people too.