For all of you Faf/Grey shippers...
Chapter 64 - Checking Him Out
.
"Zhere. Look."
"Are there any feeds for that room?" Hanlan asked.
"No, But after he does not find her in ze comm zenter, he stops in zhat room before going to engineering." Chekhov replied. "Zhere iz no ozher place ve cannot track vhat he iz doing."
"That has to be it. Thank you, Pavel. I'd never have tracked through these half so fast on my own." She patted his shoulder and grinned down at him. "If you weren't almost half my age..."
"I vas just doing my job." He grinned back hopefully. "But I haf no objectionz to older vomen."
"You're so cute." She pinched his check. "Show this to the Captain and Mr. Spock, okay? I'll tell Giotto and get a team to search that room."
"Yes, ma'am." Chekhov sighed watching her stride out the door. He really had no objections to older women, other than that they inevitably only thought of him as 'cute'.
.
.
After leaving Len, Selina took some time to settle her mind and especially to purge Maldi from her thoughts. Considering what he had been through, she certainly would not attempt to touch Faf's mind carrying any hint of that. When she returned to sickbay, Faf was working on something on a PADD. His head was moving side to side and he had the look of a large red dog cracking the marrow from a fresh bone.
Clearly, he was breaking into something. She tapped him on the shoulder and waited for him to remove the earbuds. "Dare I ask what you are doing, Fafhrd?"
"Spock's definitely in the gang. He gave me Maldi's data chips to decrypt." He smiled like a kid in a candy store. "Maldi upgraded his encryption a bit, but I've almost got it."
She noted that his readings were not perfect, but greatly improved, and his color about as healthy as one could expect for him. Nyota had clearly been a good influence on Spock; he had become more insightful than she would have imagined. She looked over Faf's shoulder. "You know that you enjoy this sort of thing far too much?"
When he glanced up there was a light in his eyes. "Yes." His stylus arched across the PADD. "Ha! Got it." The montage of symbols resolved into text and the start of a vid showing another man strapped to a biobed. He closed it quickly. "I'll ...just send this to Spock with the encryption key."
Selina could almost see the light in him dim. Two conflicting impulses gripped her. Part of her wanted to seek out Maldi's mind and shred it, rending until he was left drowning in gibbering terror like some Lovecraftian madman (let him hope to escape from that!). Another and larger part wanted to reach into Faf and take this pain away. She could permit herself to do neither. Instead she wrapped an arm around him and touched his cheek, turning his face toward her. "Tell me what you need, Fafhrd."
He leaned his forehead against hers and closed his eyes. "I'll be alright. I just wasn't ready to see that." She held him until his shoulders relaxed and he expelled a slow breath. "Let me get up and walk around. Break me out of her for a little while."
She understood. He needed to not be in a sickbay. "Come." She helped him out of the bed and took an arm to steady him. "We will see how far we can go before they hunt us down."
"We are going for a walk." Selina informed Christine. "Tell Len I will return him."
"Wait." Christine said. "I'm sorry, but the doctor will have an absolute fit if I let him leave before he's been discharged."
"That's okay then. I have been." Faf glanced at Christine. "And, um, it was second shift you liked, right?"
Christine shook her head and smiled. "Just don't be gone for too long, okay?"
They were well down the outer corridor when Selina raised an eyebrow at him. "You were discharged?"
A ghost of a smile crossed his face. "I decided to sort of limber up before tackling the data chips."
"But you do not even have command codes now."
"You know I don't really need them for that sort of thing. We were really just lucky Maldi only asked about codes and names and locations - things I could stop knowing."
"We will eventually have to find a way to explain that."
"Don't worry. I've already taken care of it."
She stopped. "What have you done, Fafhrd?"
"Not here. When we can talk privately." Two fingers touched her temple.
Though she was not a Vulcan to experience it as a kiss, coming from Faf, the offer stirred her. She reached up to him in return. "And when will that be?"
Three ensigns in red shirts walked past, slowing briefly and then scurrying past. Faf glanced away trying not to smile. "We should keep moving. I'm going to get you in trouble with your harem."
"My harem?" Her eyebrows rose.
He started walking again. "I'm not criticizing, mind you. After two years you're entitled to make up for lost time and if anyone should have a harem it's you."
She caught his arm. "Fafhrd, I do not have a harem."
"Well, maybe not a large harem - not that you couldn't if you wanted to."
Now heads were actually turning when crew passed them. She shoved him into an open conference room. She was beginning to become even more concerned about his sanity. "What are you talking about?"
"Well, you seem to be involved with the doctor, but a couple security guys came by sickbay and I heard how you and Captain Jim are a hot item too," He bit his lip and looked up at the ceiling thoughtfully, "which puts a whole new spin on the conversation at dinner the other night. And then there's the helmsman... How does it work, by the way? They each get two days a week and you take Sunday off?"
She put her hands on her hips, widening her eyes. "I did not break you out of sickbay so that you could practice being insufferable."
He looked down at her, his lips compressed against a grin, and gave a mock sigh. "So much for asking to be penciled in for Sunday..."
She lifted an eyebrow. "You were going to ask for Sunday, were you?"
"Well, I figured it might be worth a shot." He put his hands behind his back and looked back up at the ceiling. "I mean, seeing as how you took advantage of me while I was stoned."
She compressed her own lips against an encroaching smile. "I did nothing of the sort. You kissed me."
"So I've been told." He looked down at her, one eyebrow tilted rakishly. "But this time I was the only one who was intoxicated."
She decided that this time he was not the only one who got to tease. She stepped forward, looking up into his face. "You are sober now." she said in a low voice, running her fingers down the edge of his beard. "How much better are you feeling?"
She couldn't help smiling at the reaction. He did not like his real name, but right now he was doing a fine impression of a stag torn between pursuing a doe or fleeing a hunter. Though she wasn't entirely sure what she'd do if he opted for pursuit, she couldn't help a small inward sigh when fleeing seemed to win.
He looked away. "Maybe well enough for that conversation, but you might not like what I have to tell you." He glanced back with a wry grin. "And having something go nuclear in my head in the middle of a kiss is an experience I really have no interest in repeating."
"I was 18 and extremely inexperienced." She cocked an eyebrow with a slight smirk. "Not that you did not deserve it ...or willingly risk it again."
"Granted," He chuckled. "But I was 19, pretty inexperienced myself, and an idiot."
She moved a little closer, tilting her head a bit to the side as she looked up at him. "And now?"
"I'm somewhat older, a bit more experienced," He put his hands on her shoulders, smiling down at her. "...and still an idiot."
They heard the doors swish open and quickly stepped apart.
"Selina," Ambassador Pak said upon entering. "I can handle some things without you. You do not need to be present for this meeting."
"Forgive us, Ambassador." she said, indicating Fafhrd standing to the side. "I did not know that this room was scheduled."
"You are supposed to be resting." The Ambassador scolded. "As are you, Cmdr. Sorenson. Although it is good to see that you are much recovered."
Fafhrd had assumed a Spock-like stance with his hands behind his back. He nodded politely. "Thank you, sir. Don't worry. Ms. Chandri is only acting as my parole officer - allowing me to stretch my legs a bit outside of sickbay."
Pak smiled knowingly. "Very well. Should Dr. McCoy inquire, I have seen neither of you."
"Thank you, Ambassador." Selina returned his smile. "Are ready to return now, Mr. Sorenson?"
"Let's walk a little further. Give me a bit more time to clear my head."
.
.
AN: Faf really has terrible luck. Every time he and Selina get anywhere close to a 'moment', something goes wrong. Of course, like she said in the shuttle, if he ever had the confidence to call a bluff...
I've read way too many stories with Chekhov as total innocent. Had to include a little piece with a hint of him as a normal 17 yr old guy.
