You guys. This chapter. Is so. Freakin. Cute. Blarrrrgggggggggg. In fact, it's so cute that I'm going to just answer reviews and let you guys get on with the chapter.

NightShadeMoon: I... I have nothing to say. You'll see why.

Joanna (guest): I'll try to add more crew in when it's appropriate, but there was just nowhere I could put them this time. I'm sorry.

katiesgotagun: Thanks! I like her too! Sorry that this isn't as soon as I would have wanted, but things got in the way. I have it now, though.

The Sorceress's Apprentice: I think Fatherly Scotty is the best. I'm gonna be adding more of him for sure.

AniMags: Thanks! I'm glad you've enjoyed so far!

Eden: Heh, about that "cliff hangers" thing...

Pavel Andreievich Chekov was just returning to his room after a boring day and was thinking about exactly what he was going to tell Vienna and how he was going to tell her. His original plan from this morning was to just waltz into her room and tell her how he felt, but now that he thought about it, that didn't seem like the best idea.

No, he would need to sort of ease into the conversation. Maybe he would invite her over ostensibly for the video game session they had missed out on a few days ago. And after she had arrived, he would tell her that he really just wanted to talk instead. Vienna would smile and probably call him an idiot, and then they would have a normal conversation.

After a while, Pavel should probably start to mention her birthday. He would answer her questions about what he told her in Russian, and then explain further. The man grinned. It would all go well, he could just feel it.

Or, at least, he did feel it, up until Vienna ran into his room, red-faced and out of breath. Pavel tried to play it off. "Oh, hi, Vi. I was actually just about to ask you over…"

As soon as the Russian trailed off, Vienna interrupted him. They ended up saying at the same time, "We need to talk."

Frowning, again, at the same time, the two replied in perfect, sync, "Sorry. You go first."

Ordinarily, this would have been hilarious to the two of them, but they were both extremely nervous. "You can go first," Vienna said, clearly uncomfortable. Pavel frowned. He hadn't seen her this nervous in a while.

"Ah, okay… Let's sit." Pavel invited, stalling. This wasn't how he wanted things to go. He was supposed to be smooth, calm, and confident. Like Captain Kirk, but in teenage Russian genius form.

Vienna caught onto his awkward behavior as soon as the two sat down on his couch. "Are you okay, Pav?"

"Hm? Oh, yes, yes, I am fine." Pavel said, his accent becoming thicker as it usually did when he was feeling like this.

"No, you're not. What is it?" Vienna was prepared to stall for as long as possible to delay her having this part of the conversation with Pavel. She couldn't describe what she was feeling right now with words. All she knew was that her heart was fluttering at an almost impossible rate, her hands were shaking to the point where it was probably unhealthy, and that she wasn't sure if her brain was screaming at her or if it had simply gone numb.

Pavel, on the other hand, was making an effort to attempt to calm himself down. "It's, ah, it's about what I wanted to talk to you about… Are you okay, luchshiy drug?" He asked, concerned. Vienna was growing more and more nervous by the second, and he could see it. She wasn't even this nervous on the day of their final exams out of the Academy to eventually go onto the Enterprise.

"I'll be fine, Pav. What is it you wanted to talk to me about?" Vienna dismissed him with a wave of her hand.

"I, ah, well, it's difficult to explain, so you're going to have to promise me that you'll listen to me all the way through without interrupting me."

Vienna nodded. "Okay, I promise."

Pavel let out a deep breath, avoiding Vienna's green eyes. "I'm not quite sure how to begin, honestly," he let out a shaky laugh, "because I've never quite done this before. But you asked me about what I said to you before your party." Vienna opened her mouth to speak, but quickly closed it after Pavel shot her a glare.

"I said…" he coughed, smothering the words he was saying. Vienna raised her eyebrows.

"What was that?"

"I said… Lyubov' vesey moyey zhizni." Pavel stuttered out. It was almost funny, Vienna thought afterwards, how great of lengths the two went to preserving their secret for just a little while longer.

Vienna sighed in annoyance. "Pav, now isn't the time for you to be testing my Russian," she pointed out, "but I suppose I can try. Zhizni, that more or less translates to life, right?"

"Yes, but–"

"And vesey and moyey next to that mean something along the lines of 'of my'." She continued, still stalling. It seemed that Vienna's heart was racing more and more every single second.

"Well, yes."

"But what does lyubov' mean? I can't remember that one."

Pavel frowned. It looks like there was no getting out of this one. But then again, he was a genius. "This isn't the time for a lesson, Vienna."

The woman frowned. "You're stalling."

Pavel sighed. "So are you." He muttered back childishly. "It means 'love'. Lyubov'."

"The love of my life." Vienna translated quietly. This wasn't what she had expected. Not at all. Her heart soared at an even faster rate than before. Love. Lyubov'. Love. He was in love with her. He, Pavel Andreievich Chekov was in love with her, Vienna Audra King. Love. It seemed an impossible notion, yet one that was entirely possible. She could almost see the future the two could have together.

"Pavel, I–" She began, but was cut off when Pavel raised his hand in a stopping motion. He finally met his blue eyes with her green ones.

"You said you would let me finish," he spoke quietly.

Vienna shrugged. "Some things just don't need to be said."

Pavel's eyebrows furrowed. "What?"

Vienna could feel her face flush bright red. "I…. too." She mumbled, almost mimicking Pavel unconsciously as the words stumbled out, muffled by one of her hands. The other hand was twirling a piece of her blonde hair around her finger.

"I can't hear you, Vi."

"I think I'm in love with you too." She knew as soon as she had ran into Pavel's room just a few minutes before that yes, she was, in fact, in love with her best friend. When she had talked to Scotty, she wasn't sure. Now, Vienna could see as plain as day just how much she was in love with him. In fact, it was so blatantly obvious that it was almost slapping her in the face.

Vienna also couldn't possibly stop the grin spreading across her face at Pavel's smile. It had occurred to her, on many, many occasions, that Pavel Chekov was a beautiful human being, and an even more beautiful human being when he smiled and laughed. And Pavel Chekov would never regret what he did next. He leaned in, placing a hand on Vienna's cheek, and stopped a mere hairsbreadth away from her lips.

"I love you." He said, and Vienna almost couldn't breathe.

"I love you." She repeated, very much meaning it. The distance between the two was about to be closed when the blaringly loud ship wide alarms sounded. There was trouble on the USS Enterprise. Major trouble.

Yes, I just did that.

-Les