Oh yes, I just gave a cliff hanger via Authors Note. Sorry about that NightShadeMoon, but it had to be done, or people will start to think I'm losing my touch. I hope you've all had a Happy New Year, and I hope for the best of years to all of you. Now, it's time for reviews.

Guest (Joanna): Yes, the bridge crew is most definitely a huge part with the romance, and I intend to keep it that way. And considering how Uhura is Vienna's best friend, it's a given for a little Spuhura action. I personally don't ship it, but I'd be glad to write whatever makes my readers happy. Thank you very much for the praise, I appreciate it very, very much.

The Sorceresses Apprentice: Awh! Thank you! I spent quite some time on that chapter, as soon as I posted the chapter before it I set to work on that one, so I appreciate it. I'm just going to call the Russian bits Added Adorableness – capital A's – because that's just what it is, so in AN's I'll give a cuteness overload warning. I'll try to make this chapter even better than all the others! Thanks for reading!

NightShadeMoon: I added the Russian to make up for being rude in my last chapter. Thank you so flippity much (a resolution of mine is to cut back on my cursing) , and don't worry, you'll get your answers very soon. Heh heh heh.

Katiesgotagun: Yay, thanks! I wasn't sure if you guys would like fillers or not, I don't really most of the time, but I'm glad you liked it!

Without further ado, AIL, Chapter 8! Another filler (ish).

Vienna was tired. Really, really tired. And what was worse, all she had been doing for the last eight hours was checking and double checking every bit of machinery there was in Engineering – and she wasn't even close to being done. Scotty had told the woman that it was only for her own safety, because she had, after all, fell down a pipe three days ago.

Three days ago. Just three days since Vienna woke up to find Pavel holding her hand, asleep on a chair with his head rested on her hospital bed. Two days since he had kissed her cheek and whispered something in her ear in Russian. One day since her massive birthday party, and nine hours since she woke up after sleeping on her best friend. And four hours since she began to question her sanity (and more importantly, her feelings for Pavel).

Those were the most confusing and eventful three days in all of Vienna's eighteen years.

Vienna wasn't exactly sure what was happening to her. Three days ago, she was positive, no, she was adamant, that the only feelings she had for Pavel were feelings of best friendship, and the feelings of best friendship were the only feelings Pavel had for her. Two days ago, she was less than positive that Pavel only liked her as a friend. One day ago, she was slightly confused. Nine hours ago, she was positively confused and somewhat frightened, and four hours ago she began to question herself.

Now, Vienna was just lost. What if Nyota and Karu were right? What if she did like Pavel? They had perhaps taken it too far when they said she was in love with him, but maybe she did like him. She didn't know yet. And did he like her? Vienna shifted uncomfortably, glancing at the machinery in front of her and taking more notes. Sure, Pavel had been her best friend and supreme confidant for a long time now, and that's all he was ever going to be. Or so she thought.

When Pavel had kissed her cheek, she most definitely felt something. Having absolutely zero experience in this particular field, Vienna couldn't exactly define what it was that she felt, but it was something, and it was something big.

She was pulled from her musings when she felt a tap on her shoulder. Vienna yelped and turned around; almost losing her grip on the PADD she was taking notes on before she whirled around to face her boss, Scotty, who was laughing heartily.

"Oh, my goodness, Scotty! You just scared the hell out of me!" She exclaimed, placing a hand over her heart to emphasize how frightened she just was.

"Good, I wa' beginnin' to think I been losin' me touch." The Scotsman chortled.

Vienna scowled playfully. "Whatever. What's up?" She knew she shouldn't be ordinarily talking to her boss this way, but Scotty was more like a friend and mentor rather than her boss. He was, in reality, all three, but he acted more like the former of the three. The two spoke casually to each other.

Scotty frowned. "What's on yer mind, lass?" He asked, concerned, "I aven't seen you this jumpy in… Well, I ain't never seen you so jumpy."

Vienna sighed. "It's a long story."

Her boss' reply was to pull up two nearby chairs and sit on one of them, making a waving motion for her to join him. Vienna flinched.

"It's just that," she began slowly, afraid of how Scotty would react, "I think that I might have feelings for Pavel."

"The wee Russian lad?"

Vienna nodded. "Yes, him. On my birthday, before the rest of you guys came into my hospital room and surprised me, he leaned in and kissed my cheek, then said something to me in Russian. I keep forgetting to ask Nyota what it means, but that's beside the point. I just don't know how I feel about him anymore. I was positive that I didn't like him like that, but now I'm not so sure, and I don't know what to do."

To her obvious relief, Scotty just nodded. She had expected him to be just like Nyota and Hikaru and claim that yes, of course she liked him, but he just sat silently, debating on the best way to answer. "Lassie, I cannae do much to help with yer situation, I'm afraid. This is a serious thing to be thinkin' about, and I got the feelin' that I'm not the one you should be talkin' about this 'bout."

Vienna frowned. "But I've already talked to everyone else," she pointed out, "And they weren't any help at all."

Scotty shook his head. "I don' mean any of yer other friends."

Vienna's brow furrowed. "Pavel?" The man nodded. "You want me to talk to Pavel about feelings that I may or may not have for him?"

Scotty just shrugged. "He's yer best friend, innit he?"

"Yes, of course."

"Then there ain't no one better to help you sort out these feelins of yers."

Vienna thought about it. It was true, if she had been feeling this way about anyone else, Pavel would be her first stop to help her figure things out. But this time was different. And she couldn't lie to him and say that it was about somebody else and she needed help. Part of the reason she was so confused was because she didn't know what Pavel felt for her. Vienna needed his confirmation (positive or negative) to help her. So there was no avoiding it. She had to talk to him at some point, especially if she realized that she liked him (which she still wasn't sure about).

"You're right," she admitted to Scotty, "I need to talk to him about all of this. I can't do anything until I know for sure what he feels about me."

"Well, what're you waitin' for, lassie? Go and talk t' him!" He exclaimed, laughing. Vienna grinned, happy to know that her boss approved, and was so supportive. She leapt out of her chair to give him a hug, then ran to the elevator.

Within minutes, she was in her room and showering to get ready to see Pavel. Another few minutes later, her long blonde hair was dried and brushed, and she was dressed in the standard uniform black tank top and her favorite pair of blue jeans, running to Pavel's room.

She was finally going to set things straight.

Yay, Vienna realized something! I apologize greatly for not updating in a while, I was over at a friend's house for a couple days because she was having an emergency, but I'm here now. Anyhow, I have news for you all! Remember the Avengers story I mentioned a while ago? Well, I posted it! YAYYY! I've posted two chapters already, so if you'd like to read it, check on my profile. Like this story, I named it after a song that was running through my head that fit the story, and I chose the song title A Twist in my Story by Secondhand Serenade. Sigh, I love John Vesely. I also love Mark Ruffalo, which is why my Avengers story is going to have a lot of Bruce Banner/Hulk in it. Please please please please PLEASE check it out! I'm super stoked about it, and I haven't got too big of a reader base on that one. So if you lovely people could run over and check out the two chapters that I've posted on it, I would probably love you forever.

Anyhow, review on this chapter in the meantime! Tell me what you liked, what you didn't like, how you feel about Vienna/Pavel, how you feel about having a bit of fatherly Scotty, so on and so forth. Come on you guys, we're 24 pages into this on Word, so you should know the drill by now.

-Les