Time passes slowly for Pavel, almost like it always did. It reminds him of when Ender was young and when things were simple. He feels like he was very lucky with Ender, things were really good for them for a long period of time. He misses when he used to sit on his lap at the console and occasionally press buttons when Pavel told him. It was such an uncomplicated time and although things weren't perfect, he feels like he took it for granted. He smiles at the thought, spacing out from the console in front of him.

"Pav?"

Pavel looks up, seeing Sulu's smirking face staring back at him.

"Yeah?"

"You okay there?"

He nods in response and smiles. Sulu's getting used to his friend getting a little dazed or a little nostalgic. Pavel goes back to his work and the two are pretty quiet for the rest of the shift. They go back to the rec room afterwards and Pavel plays chess with Demora. She's not as good as either of her fathers but impressive for her age. Pavel whispers to her a few of his tricks but makes sure Sulu doesn't hear. He always had a slight advantage over his friend and one part of him still doesn't want to lose it. Sulu rolls his eyes when Demora beats him in the next round. He can't help but grin a little at Pavel and rustle the hair of his daughter.

Pavel's asked to go on away mission and considering he hasn't been on one since Ender was young, he agrees enthusiactically. He doesn't know many details yet but tells Ender about it in a message. Ender takes longer to reply closer to block exams, something Pavel expects. He hopes his son is working hard and not going to all the exam parties like his roommate did. He tells Ender he's thinking of him and goes to bed, dreaming of the away mission.

Kirk sends Pavel more detail about the away mission and he smiles at the file, skimming through it. It's an inhabited planet, known for its unorthodox engineering practises. Scotty has mentioned it a few times but neither of them have ever been there. The planet has limited vegetation, meaning limited oxygen as well. They'll need masks but otherwise it should be a reasonably easy and safe mission. Scotty talks to him about it in engineering and apparently, they have a potential warp core upgrade that could increase the efficiency of the dilithium. It could be quite a breakthrough if it works on federation ships and Starfleet seems quite interested in it. Pavel probably won't be doing much other than inspecting but he's still excited. He listens to Scotty going through the specifications of it. A few things seem to have changed since Pavel last worked in engineering. The federation seems to be more focused on improving their technology than they previously were. Pavel likes the idea, glad to feel as much of a part of the engineering sector as he does the bridge.

The away mission is a lot more underwhelming than Pavel expects. They beam down to the surface, meet with a few people and walk around a few different engineering bays. They spend some time studying and looking at the structures but decisions based on information sharing are left entirely to the captain and a few other senior officers that Pavel barely knows. He's back on the ship only a few hours after leaving and he's a little disappointed by it. He was hoping for a little adventure after what seems like a very emotional period in his life. He tells himself he should go on a holiday in the holodeck for a few hours but goes back to engineering to finish his report.

Eventually. Pavel does go to the holodeck for a two-hour holiday and he chooses a warm beach. The water is crystal clear and so freakishly realistic. He can feel the sun on his back and the crisp cool of the water. Little fishes swim around him and he sighs, glad to be away from his thoughts for a while. He submerges himself underwater and stays there a while, going up for breath only when he has to. He swims for what seems like ages and snorkels around some rock pools. It takes him back to a family trip/shore leave with Ender on Klarinus Eighteen, just before Ender turned ten. They snorkelled around looking at the alien fishes and got badly sunburnt but enjoyed every second of it. He finds himself about to call out to Ender to show him what looks like an octopus and stingray hybrid but he quickly remembering he is alone. The warm water suddenly seems less warm and he wonders if he's suffering through some sort of separation anxiety. Ender is always on his mind and he's always worried about him. He asks Bones about it later when he's finished on the holodeck and the doctor brushes it off quite quickly. He doesn't want Pavel to get anxiety over the fact that he has anxiety so he says nothing, knowing that there's a good chance Pavel is not dealing well without his son.

For a while after exam block, messages from Ender seem slow but it doesn't take Pavel long to find out why. He looks at Ender's social media, where he finds the relationship status listed as 'in a relationship.' Ender gets a long stream of messages about it, none of which he replies to. Pavel persists until he does get a reply.

'Her name is Camilla.'

'Is she your girlfriend?'

'Yeah.'

Pavel sighs, for a linguistics major, he's not awfully expressive with words.

'Are you going to tell me about her?'

'She's intelligent, kind, a little extroverted. She's gorgeous. I like her, a lot.'

Pavel sighs again. He hoped his son would be less vague but figures someone a little extroverted might be good for him. He asks a few more questions about Camilla, only getting brief responses for all of them. He remembers when Ender was young and wouldn't shut up for more than a period of about thirty seconds. He always had a question or would hum to himself but now Pavel's lucky to get a full sentence from him. He wonders if it was something he caused. He was always pretty quiet and he considers that he could have passed in onto his son. He asks Ender for a photo of Camilla but it never comes. He doesn't like his son being secretive, it just makes him more anxious.

Pavel tells Sulu that Ender has a girlfriend and that he's being vague about her. Sulu thinks it's normal. He didn't tell his parents about any of his partners until towards his graduation. Sulu's words comfort Pavel. He's glad to know his son isn't acting weird by being vague about his girlfriend. Sulu wonders what Demora will be like when she's a teenager. Pavel tells him just to enjoy it whilst she's still young.