Disclaimer: For Pete's sake, no! I don't own any part of Star Trek! ...(cry.)

A/N: Well, here it is: Ye olde finale. Thanks for reading the story, and please enjoy!

Pavel Chekov:

Navigating a Life

Chapter Twelve, Day Five

"The animal is ill; the animal was ill; the animal will be ill; the animal has been ill," Uhura recited. "Which one suggests that the animal was and still is ill?"

"Has been. And, vhile ve are talking of 'ill', how is Mr. Sulu?"

"You're in luck—I just asked McCoy this morning how he was doing." The communications officer assured him with a smile, "Sulu's doing just fine. He was treated earlier today and they expect him to be back on duty in a week. The wonders of modern medicine."

Day Twelve

In the mess hall, Chekov looked up as Sulu sat down across from him.

"Good afternoon, sair," the ensign greeted his superior officer. "How are you feeling?"

"Oh, pretty good, actually." Sulu mixed around his replicated pasta awkwardly before looking at Chekov again. "I guess I owe you an apology, huh?"

"For vhat, sair?"

"I'm pretty sure you've noticed that I've sort of snubbed you since you came on board," Sulu said. "And I'm sorry."

"Vhat is 'snubbing'?" Chekov asked.

"Trying to pretend that you don't exist," Sulu explained.

Chekov nodded his comprehension. "That is alright, sair." Truth be told, there were times when the ensign preferred to be figuratively invisible.

"No," Sulu shook his head, "it isn't. Why don't you meet Uhura and me in the rec room in a couple of hours?"

"If you vant me to, sair."

"It's your choice, Chekov."

"Oh. Alright. I vill be there."

-

Later, Chekov was wandering around, generally lost. Naturally, he had forgotten to ask in which rec room he was to meet Sulu and Uhura. He poked his head into rec room 1 and, after glancing around, decided that this was the wrong room. Rec room 2 wasn't the right room, but number 3 turned out to be the correct one.

Thank goodness, thought Chekov with a sigh of relief. I almost ran out of rec rooms!

"Hi, Pasha," Uhura smiled at him, waving him over to the astro-turf soccer field where she and Sulu were kicking a ball back and forth to each other. "I was starting to think you'd gotten lost! Silly, huh?"

"Not too silly," Chekov replied with a sheepish grin.

"I'm glad you found us," Sulu said, nodding. "I guess I forgot to tell you which rec room we were in."

Chekov nodded back and walked over to them. "Vhat are you doing?"

"Just wishing that the ball we're kicking around was Khan," Sulu laughed.

"Khan?"

"A really nasty guy who would like nothing more than to blow the Enterprise to smithereens," Uhura explained. Before Chekov could ask, she added, "That means he'd like to blow the ship to bits."

"Oh." The communications officer kicked the ball to Chekov as she and Sulu spread out a bit to form a triangle. Chekov sent the ball over to Sulu, and Sulu passed it to Uhura. Sulu broke the silence.

"So far you seem to be in the captain's good graces, Pavel." When Chekov elevated his eyebrows, Sulu was unsure whether the ensign was confused with "good graces" or offended that the helmsman had called him by his first name.

"Vhat is 'good graces'?" Chekov finally asked, rolling the ball in Sulu's direction.

"In this case Sulu means that the captain thinks you're doing a good job, Pasha," Uhura informed him.

"Oh. Vell, that is good."

"You didn't mind that I called you 'Pavel', did you?" Sulu wondered aloud.

"Fair is fair, sair. Vhat is your first name?"

"Hikaru."

"No, Hikaru, I did not mind."

"And I'm Nyota. Why don't both of you call me that?" Uhura suggested, looking over to Sulu.

"Okay," Sulu smiled. Chekov, wearing a grin, happily nodded his agreement. This looked like the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

The End