Angels (Pavel Chekov)

40 - Interrogation

Pavel hesitates as he stands at the door to his mother's house. He looks at Vienna, swallowing and pressing the doorbell. Pavel's mother speaks no English and Vienna relies on Pavel to translate. He brings Vienna in and she looks around the house as she comes in. There's a few photos of Pavel and his brother from when they were younger.

Pavel's mother, Dariya, seems pretty quiet. She says something to Pavel and he responds with a groan. Vienna asks what's wrong and he tells her that his brother is coming too. He doesn't want Vienna meeting his brother. Erik is a total flirt and he worries that he'd start flirting with Vienna. Vienna on the other hand, doesn't seem phased by the thought of meeting him. Pavel just swallows uncomfortably and encourages her to sit down with him.

"Does Erik speak English?"

"He does," Pavel says quietly, "I apologise in advance for anything he says."

She gives him a reassuring smile and takes his hand. Dariya is in the kitchen and comes out with a pot of tea. Pavel asks if Vienna drinks tea and she shakes her head softly. Dariya passes Pavel a cup quietly and he thanks her, drinking it slowly.

Dariya asks something and Pavel nearly chokes on his tea, putting the cup down and running a hand through his hair. He gives a very uncertain reply in Russian and Vienna asks what's going on.

"I'll tell you later," he mutters, rubbing his hand over his face.

Dariya's phone beeps and she mentions Erik's name. Pavel just sighs and looks towards the door. Vienna tries to reassure him but he still feels nervous.

"Vienna," Erik says softly, extending a hand towards her. "It's nice to finally meet you; meet you properly, anyway."

"Indeed," she says, smiling politely. "Pavel has told me a lot about you."

"Oh, I imagine he has," Erik smirks, looking towards his younger brother. "All good things, I assume?" He says with a laugh, his voice dripping with a playful sarcasm. "Pavel adores me, I'm sure"

Dariya pours him a tea and he switches to Russian, telling his mother something. Pavel rolls his eyes and shuffles a little closer to Vienna, glad that Erik is sitting next to Dariya and not Vienna. They speak quietly and Vienna listens for any words she recognises. She only manages to pick up Pavel's name and the word yes but she considers it more or less a win.

Pavel goes into the kitchen with his mother and Erik asks how Vienna's enjoying the academy. She tells him the truth, that it's harder than she anticipated.

"Are you in Starfleet too? Do you like physics as much as your brother does?"

He scoffs, smiling at the thought. "I can barely multiply single digit numbers. I was in Starfleet, yes. Not in anything remotely mathematical though. I did xenolinguistics. I left after a year, the whole space adventure thing stopped appealing reasonably quickly."

"Also, why does Pavel have an accent, but you don't? You sound very American when you speak English."

"Thank you," he smiles. "Pavel's never worked on his pronunciation. I went to an American high school before starting at Starfleet. I spent a lot of time trying to sound like a native."

"You've done well," she smiles, Erik thanking her in return. Pavel comes back and narrows his eyes at Erik.

"He's not annoying you, is he?" Pavel asks softly, sitting back down next to her.

"He's fine," Vienna confirms, giving Pavel a reassuring smile.

Dariya says something in Russian and Erik breaks into a grin, Pavel switches to Russian and frowns. Vienna hates not knowing what's going on. Pavel's cheeks are glowing and Erik seems to be enjoying the conversation.

"Mum said that she'll have very pretty grandchildren," Erik translates, ignoring Pavel's reddening cheeks. "She's said a few other things but I'll leave Pavel to translate those."

"Or not," Pavel mutters under his breath, picking up a biscuit and offering Vienna one. "This is so embarrassing, I'm glad you don't understand. You thought Sydel was bad with her questions, my mum's already asking about grandkids."

Dariya says something else and Pavel nearly chokes on his food. "Mama," he says sharply. Erik has an eyebrow raises and Pavel rolls his eyes at them.

"Go on," Erik urges. "Answer the question."

Pavel says something in Russian and excuses himself, leaving the room. Vienna watches him go and wonders if she should follow or not.

"What did he say?"

"He's just not liking all the personal questions. Our mother is a lot more open than he is. When I urged him to answer he just said he refused to such personal questions."

"And what exactly did your mother asks him?"

"She asked if  you two had had intercourse yet."

"Oh," she says flatly, her own cheeks starting to warm. "I should probably go check on him. Where do you think he might be?"

"His old bedroom, probably. Down past the kitchen and to the right."

(Author's Note)

I must say, I enjoyed writing this period of time in the story. Hope y'all enjoy too ✧