Author's Note: This chapter was adopted from whatisthisnonsense-abandoned.

Disclaimer: I own none of the Star Trek characters.

Prologue

Pavel felt sick. It had only been three weeks since he had arrived back on Earth and already he had had an offer to serve aboard another ship. He wasn't sure if he could do that. He had no intention of letting his career diminish, but the thought of sitting behind a different set of controls, being ordered by anyone other than Spock and Kirk, sitting next to anyone other than Hikaru was, right now, more than he could stand.

The continuous headaches were getting annoying and he had nearly fainted twice since this morning. The nausea was constant, and he supposed that being so depressed recently had lowered his immune system and made him susceptible to a bug going around. Except, infuriatingly, he was often hungry too.

The doctor that entered the room was a woman, a Dr. Edwards. For a moment Pavel felt a little embarrassed as he tried to explain what he thought might be the problem. She smiled at him gently, the first positive gesture he had gotten from anyone in about a month, and he tried not to burst into tears.

She must have noticed, but didn't say anything as she took her seat and looked at the clipboard holding the paper she had been writing on.

"You say you've been fired, recently?" she said, maintaining eye contact.

Pavel nodded, not trusting himself if he opened his mouth.

"And you weren't ready for it, were you?"

He shook his head, biting his lip hard.

"You seem a little overemotional as well. It's understandable given the circumstances, but how would you say your outward emotions have been? Sad? Hysterical? Or are you usually calm?"

To his horror a loud, chocked, sob-like sound emitted from his throat as he tried to answer her. He clapped a hand over his mouth, squeezing his eyes shut as tears ran over his cheeks and fingers.

The doctor smiled gently at him again. "Now that's alright, you're clearly under stress."

Sniffing and he removed his hand to say, "I-I suppose I hawen't really zought about my
behavior, just how I feel. I-I hawe been a bit hysterical."

"It doesn't sound like a bug, more like nerves, but I'm going to have a proper look at you anyway," she said as she stood. "If you'd just sit yourself up on the bed here and remove your shirt, we'll be done in no time."

The young Russian did as he was requested, wondering why he felt so embarrassed. Even when Dr. McCoy had examined him the young man had been unabashed at removing his shirt, and he had had a crush on the older man once. He wondered if he should suck in his stomach and tense his muscles, but then figured that, as his doctor, Edwards really needed to know exactly what was going on with his physique.

Dr. Edwards was facing her desk, and she turned back to him as pulling on an old fashioned stethoscope with one hand and a scanner held in the other.

"Always preferred using these," she said, tugging on the stethoscope gently. "I don't feel like a real doctor unless I'm wearing one."

Pavel smiled and felt himself relax a bit. He sat up a little straighter.

"Hmm, now these look a little sore." Dr. Edwards gently brushed a thumb against Pasha's right nipple and then looked up at him. "Or are they usually this color?"

He tilted his head down to look at his chest properly. "Zey…Zey do look a bit pinker." He felt himself blush harshly, remembering the dull throb he had had in his left pectoral a few days previously.

Gently, she pressed them both with her thumbs. "Sore?" she asked.

"Ze left is, a little bit. It vas aching the ozer day actually."

The doctor frowned slightly, "Hmm, well let's get down to business." Once done she retrieved the scanner from the table next to the bed. "Please lie down, Mr. Chekov."

Resting his head on the scratchy material of the pillow he allowed the doctor to push his limbs wherever she needed them. As the scanner was waved up and down over his body, he found himself thinking back about five months ago, and the reason he wasn't on the Enterprise today.