Hey there! So I got a great response from the first chapter, and since I'm clearly thinking of nothing else right now, I got the second part done overnight! Natalia may seem a bit bitchy in these first few chapters, but she'll get a bit better. Not tons, because her personality is just kind of bitchy, but obviously she won't hate Chekov as much. But anyway, don't forget to review, and enjoy part two!
The second time she saw Pavel Chekov, she wanted to kill him.
Natalia Flores had managed to make it through a whole year of Theoretical Physics I with Chekov in her class. In that time there were no injuries, and no disciplinary action taken. She had kept her cool, as Rachel had told her to do.
Of course, in the last week of classes, something had to come along and ruin that.
"Now, there are several skills you will need on a starship that cannot be taught in a lecture setting." The same angry professor was busy wrapping up another long-winded set of instructions for what promised to be the toughest paper and model Natalia had ever been instructed to do. "One of those skills would be cooperation. The ability to work in a team without too much shouting and violence and the such." Natalia perked up slightly, wary of the direction this was going. "As such, this project will be tackled in pairs. On the top of your project description you will find the name of your partner. There will be no switching of partners. Please just do the task assigned and so it well." He turned back to his desk, sitting down. "You are dismissed."
Natalia grabbed her PADD, frantically opening the file containing the project descriptor. As it flashed to life, her jaw dropped. The name "P. Chekov" flashed in front of her. Groaning, she let her head hit the desk. The pain couldn't be much worse than the one walking towards her at that moment.
"Cadet Flores." She could barely understand him through that accent, and it made the pain in her head throb slightly. "I understand that we…what is the term…?"
"Hate each other?" Natalia quipped. "Are mortal enemies? Shouldn't even be in the same room together?"
"I was going to saw that we got off on the wrong foot." He looked slightly hurt at her words, and she felt a small twinge of guilt as a voice that sounded suspiciously like Rachel scolded her for her behavior. "But if you would prefer that we be enemies, I'm sure that wouldn't be too much trouble."
"No, I didn't mean that." She hid her face, which was flushing with embarrassment. "I'm sorry, Chekov. I'm acting like a jerk, and you don't deserve that." She regained her composure, and stood up. "Let's just start over, shall we?"
"Yes, that would be nice." He took a step back, giving her space to push in her chair and gather her stuff. Once she was settled, he stuck out his hand. "Pavel Chekov."
She smiled, not quite Rachel's full out smile, but not her usual small smirk. "Natalia Flores." She slid her hand into his, and the two shook. "It's a pleasure to meet you."
"The pleasure is all mine." He said. The pair was frozen like that, not sure how else to carry on. There was an awkward silence, in which Natalia let her bag slip off her shoulder.
"Whoops." She caught it deftly with the hand that he had been holding. "Sorry." She said, biting her lip anxiously. "So…I actually have another class to go to."
"Me too." He nodded, looking anywhere but at her.
"But, we should meet this afternoon to go over this assignment." She said. "How about this afternoon? Three o'clock in the main library sound good?"
"That sounds fine." Chekov said, meeting her eyes for a fleeting moment before turning away. "I will see you then, yes?"
"Yes." She nodded, and watched him scuttle out as though she had bitten him. I don't get it. She thought to herself. I'm mean to him, and he doesn't get the hint, and then I try to be nice to him, and he runs away. She shook her head. Must be a Russian thing. She left the room feeling puzzled, which was not the best way to arrive to a challenging Calculus class.
***
At 2:55, Natalia was by the doorway of the main library, her physics notes in her bag. Despite the truce made that morning, she still felt a bit of hostility towards the Russian. She still felt the pinpricks of shame whenever she heard the name Newton, and the other cadets in that class had started calling her by the name. Even now, leaning against the cool exterior of the library, a student hailed her with a wave and "Hey, Newton!" She groaned, and let her head fall against the side, making a terrific bang.
"Was that cadet talking to you?" The thick accent was the first tip off. Natalia opened her eyes to see Chekov looking at her curiously. She scowled gently. Even now, he was cheerful, though they were doing nothing but going over notes and assigning jobs.
"Yes, he was." She said slowly, lifting her head up and opening the door. He reached out to hold it as she slid inside to the controlled climate.
"Why didn't he call you by your name?" He asked. He was so innocent, so naïve, part of her couldn't deal with it.
"Because of you, smart ass." She said through her teeth. He blinked a few times, and she clarified. "Remember from the first class? Newton's third law of motion?"
"Oh, yes." He nodded solemnly. "You are still teased about that?"
"Yes, I am." She said slowly, attempting to keep her voice low. By now she had found a table far from the main desk where the librarian sat.
"I am sorry." He said, sitting next to her. She chanced a look at him, and was immediately struck by his eyes, searching for hers and filled with real guilt. "I didn't mean to humiliate you."
"What makes you think you did?" She asked, her voice much softer than she had intended. She looked down at the table, pulling out her PADD and pulled up the directions. "This whole project is stupid anyway." She said. "We're only teamed together because we're the youngest one there."
"How old are you?" He asked, opening his own document.
"I turned fifteen last month." She said, only admitting it because she knew he was the same age.
"I turn fifteen next month." He said with a smile. "We are well matched."
"That's one way of looking at it." She said, turning back to her document.
They spent the next hour dividing up the work and deciding on when they could work together. The presentation of their model was in two weeks, with the paper due at the time of presentation. That gave them two weekends to work, along with any time they could manage after classes.
"I think we'll have plenty of time." Chekov said, reviewing the schedule Natalia had drawn up meticulously. "This is not a difficult assignment."
"There's just a lot involved with it." Natalia nodded.
"We'll do well." He said, clearly confident. "Nothing can go wrong."
***
Of course, when one says that nothing can go wrong, one is just tempting fate.
There were three days left until the presentation, and Natalia was beginning to get nervous. She had done presentations at her old school, but she had also felt much smarter than the kids there. She was much younger than the students here, and they were already looking for any excuse to laugh at her. She knew that with some practice she would calm down, and that was why she scheduled a day to practice the presentation. Of course, it would be much easier to practice if she had the presentation with her.
Chekov had insisted on keeping all of their data on his PADD, as he claimed to take better care of his. It wouldn't be a problem, except that Chekov wasn't here on time.
After thirty minutes alone in one of the workstations in the library, she sighed, giving up and heading back to the dorms. She had just reached the quad, her dorm in sight, when she heard her name being shouted in full, familiar accent.
"Natalia, wait!" He ran up, stopping just as she turned around. "I am so sorry!"
"Save it." She cut him off, flipping her hair over her shoulder. "Do you know how long I was waiting for you?"
"I know, and I'm sorry." He said. "But I didn't just mean to leave you there. There was an emergency."
"It better have been a damn good emergency." She said, running a shaky hand through her hair.
"My PADD fell out the window." He spit out.
Natalia's blood ran cold. "Out the window?" She asked. He nodded. "Which window?"
"That one." He turned and pointed to the top floor of his dorm building.
"The thirteenth floor?" She asked. He nodded, wincing in pain. "It didn't survive, did it?"
"No." He opened the bag he had been holding to reveal several crushed pieced of metal and plastic inside. "We have to start over."
Natalia nodded, her face dropping into her hands. Chekov waited, watching her pull herself together. "I'm sorry." He said again as she lowered her hands.
"I know you are." She nodded. "Just…don't let me touch you, okay? I might kill you."
"Okay." He said, stowing away the bag of garbage. "We should probably start tonight, shouldn't we?"
"Yeah." She hitched up her bag, counting in her head in her native tongue. "Seriously, though, don't touch me. I'm really trying not to kill you right now."
***
Three days later, the presented their model. The first halve went fine, but then it was Chekov's turn to talk.
"We then had to calculate the escape velocity of not one but-"
"What was that?" Natalia looked up and saw one of the older students waving his hand around. She caught his eyes, and he took that as a chance to continue. "I didn't hear what he said. What was that?"
"Come on, man, don't you know what an escape well-ocity is?" Another older cadet from across the room yelled. The room erupted into laughter, and Natalia swore she saw Chekov blush.
"Hey, jerk-off!" She yelled, not sure why she was doing it. "How many languages can you speak?"
"What kind of question is that?" He asked, clearly missing her point.
"A good one." She said scathingly. "Until you can speak all the languages he can, I wouldn't be using the one you know."
"He doesn't know English very good." The guy grumbled, and Natalia snorted.
"Clearly you don't know English very well either." She said. There was another buzz of chatter through the classroom as the guy looked down, noticing his mistake. She took a deep breath to steady her temper, and turned back to her partner. "Please, continue Pavel."
He spared her a quick smile and cleared his throat. "As I was saying, we then had to calculate the escape velocity of…"
***
This time when they sat down to lunch, Rachel and Natalia joined Chekov, some of his friends, and other member of the Theoretical Physics I class. They were listening to one of Rachel's stories about her cousin's farm when Natalia felt a tug at her sleeve. She turned to Chekov on her left, cutting an apple in half.
"Would you like some?" He asked, handing her a half.
"Thanks." She smiled, turning the fruit over in her hands.
"No, thank you." He said, careful to not look at her. "You didn't have to do that in class today."
"Do what?" She asked, honestly confused.
"Stand up for me like that." He was definitely blushing now. "No one's really done that before, and I didn't want you to think that you had to."
"Yes I do." She said, leaning down and catching his eyes. "You shouldn't have to put up with that, and I won't let you, okay?"
"Okay." He agreed, taking a bite out of his half of the apple. He chewed thoughtfully, swallowed, then spoke again. "Does this mean we're friends?"
"No." She shook her head, hoping he would catch the sarcasm in her voice. "I might want to kill you again, and if you're my friend I can't do that."