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star trek xi - pavel chekov

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[Somewhere outside of City Solutions, Chekov is doing what he can to help others escape The Things running about today (or slithering around, as the case may be). Mostly, that involves shooting The Things with one of the laser guns he made when he first entered the City.

That's what he was doing, anyway. The gun has stopped working and Chekov, with his engineering knowledge temporarily traded away, can't get it running again. He's tried pushing buttons, removing and replacing parts, hitting the stupid thing, swearing at it in a variety of languages... and it's not responding. He grudgingly pulls out his network device.]

Derrmo... Pavel, you are an idiot. Trading away knowledge...

[video]

Howl, Sophie. If either of you are home, would you please go into my room and see if--

[A scraping sound. Chekov pauses. Behind him, a manhole cover lifts and is pushed aside by what might have been, in a previous life, a set of hands--gnarled, knuckle bones visible through a glistening coat of slime and rot.

Even as he turns to look, something whips out of the manhole and wraps itself around Chekov's legs. It drags him towards the hole and the grabbing hands. The young man yelps and reaches for the useless gun, but it's too far away. He twists and hits the thing around his legs with the only weapon at hand: his network device.

The picture flickers. The quality of the feed is poor, but a swearing Chekov is visible, halfway down the manhole, holding on to a crack in the cement above ground to prevent the creature from dragging him under. He slams his network device on the ground and--]

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[--disappears from view, a jagged, broken piece of plastic--a remnant of the network device--firmly in hand.

There's nothing for a minute.

Two minutes.

A bloodied hand grasps the rim of the manhole. Chekov hauls himself up onto the relative safety of the cement, filthy and bleeding but very much alive. He has the presence of mind to replace the manhole cover.]

Eto pizdets...

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[Hey, anyone would do that for a dead friend. This is different.]

I can do that.

[No, Pavel, that's where you're very wrong.

Once they reach the building Lucy's flat is in, she pushes the button for the elevator and manages to get them both inside before toeing off her shoe, stretching her leg out and pushing the button for the top two floors with her big toe.]

[It's a good thing nothing attacks; Chekov has his doubts about using a screwdriver as a weapon.

By the time they reach the elevator, he's all but slumped on Lucy.] You have very good balance.

So many years walking on four inch heels.

[It's true. At this point, she feels off balance without them. She actually stumbles while walking barefoot. The elevator starts up then jerks to a stop at the penthouse floor. When the doors slide open, she leans her shoulder into Pavel and helps him to the door of her apartment.]

Your feet may not appreciate that.

[Inane conversation is nice and he is immensely pleased to be at her apartment.]

I've heard it's actually harder on your spine, but so far, I'm okay.

[She gets the door open, guides them through it and kicks it shut behind her before making her way to the couch.]

Okay, lean on me while I kind of toss this blanket across the couch.

[She sort of half lets go of him, trusting he will lean against her and gets the throw blanket on the arm of the couch unfurled and sort of spread across the couch. Once that's done, she puts both hands on Chekov, one on his shoulder, the other on his forearm.]

Let's just sort of ease you down to lay on the couch.

[He leans on her wordlessly until the couch is adequately protected and then allows her to help him down--hopefully without pulling her down with him.]

I will need to visit you sometime when there isn't curse.

[It's close, honestly. Her only saving grace is that she's used to pulling back against Bryant's weight when she walks him because he thinks 'walk' means take Lucy for a run, with him in the lead.]

Yes, you will need to.

[She moves into the kitchen. Chekov can probably still see her if he looks over the back of the couch. She gathers up a few things, makes a trip to the coffee table to drop off the first aid kit, a juice glass with an inch or so of clear liquid in it and a couple of clean clothes then disappears again to gather up the rest of the supplies, a bottle of water tucked in the crook of her arm and a bowl with warm water in it. She sets the bowl down, settles herself on the floor next to Chekov and reaches across to get the juice glass.]

Drink. One gulp. It won't taste good, but it'll make you feel better.

[It's ice cold peppermint schnaupps that she keeps in the freezer.]

[He does sit up to watch her over the back of the couch. The liquid in the juice glass gets a suspicious look.]

What is it?

[Chekov drinks it, however, not waiting for an answer and pulling a face at the taste.]

Not vodka.

Peppermint Schnaupps. I put it in my hot chocolate when it's cold. [She opens the first aid kit, fishes a bottle of aspirin out, retrieves two of them then hands the aspirin and the bottle of water to Chekov.]

Take those. It's just aspirin.

[She dips one of the clothes in the warm water, wrings it out and carefully dabs at some of the scrapes on his face.]

Why would you ruin hot chocolate like that?

[He obediently takes the aspirin, grateful that the next drink is just water--and grateful that Lucy is so kind and thoughtful.]

Lucy, I believe you are my favorite person in this city.

Ruin is a matter of opinion. You totally have to try it on a really cold day.

[She smiles, turns a little pink and then sticks her tongue out at him.]

I think I owe you. I also like you and prefer you didn't die.

[Chekov is highly suspicious of Lucy's taste in beverages (she does, after all, drink tea with ice in it).

Instead of retaliating in a similarly mature manner, he becomes quite serious and grabs both of Lucy's hands. It doesn't matter that they're busy.]

Thank you, and I prefer that, too, but please, you should know that you don't owe me.

[She's taken a little bit aback by the way he gets serious and grabs her hands. Honestly, she's not sure how to react because she does owe him and she knows she can never repay him for what he's given her. She hesitates a moment and then leans forward, pressing her lips against his in a kiss. Unless he stops her, it's going to be a very good kiss. She's got a point she wants to prove.]

[He tends to act on emotion when he has no reason to suppress such things, however sudden those emotions are. Lucy really doesn't owe him. Even if she hadn't dragged him to her apartment, she wouldn't owe him anything.

Everyone deserves to be happy, especially when happiness is only a trade away.

That kiss, though--Chekov all but melts into Lucy, reciprocating in a way that only a relatively inexperienced but very enthusiastic teenager can. He has kissed girls before, of course, but they were no more experienced in that realm than him. Lucy is amazing and leaves him breathless and slack-jawed.]

[Lucy is reminded yet again that if she let herself, she could easily fall in love with Chekov and that would be bad because she'd only get her heart broken when he left.

By the time the kiss breaks, Lucy is breathless as well. She picks up his hand and presses it against her chest just over her heart.]

That is because of you. I can't even begin to repay for it, but thank you.

[It's a little too late for Chekov to not fall in love, but he falls in love quickly and readily.

He doesn't know what to say right away (and moving isn't even on his mind). This is very like when they were married during that curse; he can remember when there wasn't a heartbeat there.]

It didn't cost so much.

[It did. He'd do it again.]

[Poor Chekov. Lucy never really intended that.

It really is, which was probably why it was so easy for Lucy to fall into it. It felt familiar rather than awkward.]

Do you even know what you gave up?

[He's an emotionally durable guy. It'll work out.

Pleasant familiarity of the situation aside, Chekov doesn't particularly want to talk about what he traded--not with Lucy. It's hard to decide which is worse: risking making Lucy feel guilty or giving her the idea that her life isn't worth what he traded. It might have just been information, but his personal identity has always been so intimately connected with his knowledge. He may as well have traded away his perceived purpose in life.]

I do, yes, and I promise you that I thought it was a fair price.

[She pursed her lips and twisted them to one side, considering that.]

Okay, but I'm going to kiss you again. It's like thank you with tongues. Also because it's fun and after that I should probably finish getting you cleaned up and bandaged.

[But first the kissing.]

The best kind of thanking.

[It's a good thing that it isn't Chekov doing the thanking, as he clearly has no idea what to do with his tongue. Lucy, however, is doing a remarkable job of distracting him from any pain related to a broken leg and a handful of cracked ribs. Really, she can take her time with the kissing.]

[She breaks the kiss with a regretful sigh.]

Okay...what hurts? And do we need to get your clothes off for me to get to it properly?

[His genius brain stumbles over the notion of removing clothes--a lapse that he would happily blame on hormones--and a response is slow.]

What--? Oh, no. I think I can wait for a hospital and a dermal regenerator, mostly.

[Lucy regarded him carefully, eyes narrowed.]

How am I supposed to be a naughty nurse if there's no nursing involved? That just leaves me naughty.

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