Angels (Pavel Chekov)

42 - Angels

When they get back to the hotel Pavel removes his shoes and crawls into bed. Vienna calls out and asks if he wants something to eat. He doesn't reply and she sighs, eating a banana before joining him. She asks if he's awake and he doesn't reply again. She wonders if he's actually asleep or not and sighs to herself.

"I love you," she says softly, laying on her stomach. She finds her own eyes getting a little watery. She feels sorry for Pavel. His tone from earlier still stings him and she's feeling overwhelmed. She wipes her eyes and tells herself Doctor McCoy will probably get back to her by the time she wakes up.

Vienna wakes up alone again and just starts crying. She holds a pillow and lets herself cry for a little while. Things were just getting better. She doesn't want to see Pavel so broken again.

"Enya?" Pavel says softly.

Vienna looks up. He must have been in the bathroom.

"Pasha," she mutters, smiling at him. "You're up, how are you feeling?"

"Were you crying?" He asks, sitting on the edge of the bed and putting a hand on her knee.

"Crying? No, no, I'm fine. I'm alright. Are you hungry? Should we eat breakfast?"

He says something softly to her in Russian, shuffling closer. She bites the inside of her lip, trying to stop it from quivering. She breaks down then, starting to cry and trying to wipe her tears away with her sleeves.

"Hey," he says softly. "Enya, come here." He wraps her in his arms and kisses the top of her head, muttering to himself in Russian. "I'm sorry I snapped at you yesterday," he says softly. "I felt awful about it, I was hoping to apologise when you woke up. Thank you for looking after me, for coming to the other side of the planet to stay by my side."

"Why is everything going wrong for you? You're finally getting better but something like this happens to you and... And you don't deserve to go through this. You're the kindest, gentlest soul I know. I hate seeing you suffer."

He kisses the top of her head and holds her tight. He speaks to her in Russian until she calms down. She isn't sure what he's trying to tell her but the gentle rasp in his hushed voice makes the hairs on her neck stand.

"I love you," he finally says, switching to English. "Listen, I can be stronger than I think. Now that I have you by my side, I know I can get through anything I have thrown at me. You're... You're an angel to me Vienna. You're my angel. Thank you for looking after me. I want to do the same for you."

Her heart melts a little listening to him and she brings his lips down to hers. They kiss slowly for a while. It's been too long since they last shared a proper kiss like that. He deeps their kiss, his lips feeling far more natural against hers since they first tried. He seems to know what he's doing now and she's loving his subtle confidence.

They head back to Pavel's family's house after almost an hour in one another's quiet company. They both feel substantially better after spending the time to just think and relax. Erik is already there by the time they arrive.

Erik says something with a smirk and Pavel just switches English to tell him to shut up. Pavel goes into the kitchen with Dariya and Vienna sits across from Erik, raising and eyebrow at him.

"What are you saying to annoy him this time?"

"My brother is very punctual. He's almost an hour later than he said he'd be here. I made a comment about why he may have been late and I don't think he liked it."

"I really should ask you to stop stirring my boyfriend up."

"Perhaps," he jests, taking a sip of drink that Vienna can't identify. "It's too much fun though. All you have to do is say the word 'sex' and his cheeks light up like a firetruck."

"So what if his cheeks go red? At least he isn't a torment, Erik."

"Yeowch," Erik laughs, picking up on the gentle smile she's trying to hide. "I'm his brother. If I'm not annoying or embarrassing him, I'm doing something wrong. He was my annoying little brother when I had girls over when I was a teen. It's his turn now."

"I didn't annoy you when you had girls over," Pavel protests, coming back into the room holding another plate of biscuits.

"Erik, did you touch my telescope? Erik, how do you say this in English? Erik, how do you conjugate this verb in the past tense? Erik, how do you pronounce this?" Erik mocks, doing a fairly accurate impression of Pavel's voice, capturing the subtle Russian intonation.

Vienna stifles a laugh as Pavel frowns at his brother. "I was not like that. You always had girls over anyway."

"Genius level IQ right here and yet the concept of knocking still escaped that big brain of his," Erik says, rolling his eyes. "He walked into my room time and time again. You think it would have clicked."

"I've seen more than I care to admit," Pavel comments, rolling his eyes.