Thank you all for the overwhelming response to the last chapter, I've been inundated with reviews (seriously there was like over 30 reviews :D), which always makes me happy! I love hearing from all of you, but I can't always find the time to write so I hope you all understand that. Anyway…

Amy – I have seen Into Darkness, and I loved it, best film of the year hands down. I don't know if I'll be inserting Emily into it, I honestly haven't planned that far ahead. If I do it'll probably be in the form of a sequel, but I make no promises so don't hold me to it.

Tzswei – I hope no one expected me to use Spock, I really wanted to surprise people with that one.

GravityDefier7827 – I'm so pleased that you liked the chapter and that you like my characterisation. It's something I've been working hard on in my classes as well, so it's clearly paying off.

xXThat-Other-HobbitxX – about chapter 2, seeing your review made me grin, and I hope it didn't hurt. I once brought coffee up through my nose from laughing, that hurt so much I was laughing and crying at the same time.

Emily – Of course I care. Sure I write these stories because I get a kick out of it, but knowing that people like you care about them as much as I do it just a bonus.

Silentflier – I'm glad you like them, and I'm aware of the major lack of Chekov stories. We should band together as a community to try and raise awareness of this tragedy. I always love learning that people ship my characters so thank you for that :).

Kagehana013 – Thank you for waiting so patiently and for understanding :) This is coming way later than I had initially anticipated, but stuff happens and life takes over.

Sweet-sour-bipolar – Erm I love your enthusiasm, like seriously enthusiasm is always appreciated :D Ah screw it, I love you too!

StarkidKerrie – I'm glad I help with the Chekov feels :) and I always love the support so thanks.

ThatKatePerson – You know, I thought that I was the only one that did that, and I fully get the frustration of an incomplete fic! Still I'm glad you found my little narrative all the same :)

sweet-revenge.75 – I'm guilty of over-looking fics until they're complete, but still I'm glad you've taken exception with this one!

I wish I could have replied to all of you, but there was just so many. I can't say thank you enough honestly! I love you all!

"Oi, Emily 'ave ya got a sec?" Scotty called across the cavernous room.

This had become the main method of calling Emily to him, he didn't do it with anyone else so it was a little unnerving for her at first, but she was settled in now. So whenever Scotty shouted for her, the other engineers just rolled their eyes and smiled at her when she passed.

"What do you want Scotty?" Emily called back from her position behind a bulkhead. She was in the middles of something, so unless it was really important, it could wait. The number of times she had crawled out of a difficult position for something beyond menial was ridiculous. Scotty was lazy not incapable, and this was something she was determined to rectify over time.

"Have you seen ma kit?" He shouted back. His voice was louder now, so he was close by.

Emily sighed at her commanding officer. The number of times she had had to remind him where he had left his tool box was surly well into the hundred mark by now.

"An' before yer ask, yes I have checked where I last left it. It ain't there." Scotty added having picked up on the less than quiet sigh.

"Oh, erm, I think Andrews was looking for repair kit earlier. But I'm not sure that he would dare borrow from you." Emily informed him. If there was one unwritten rule in the department it was to not borrow things from Scotty, it just wasn't worth the repercussions in the long run. Scotty didn't yell or get cross, he got even, and that just wasn't worth the hassle. You wouldn't know when he would strike, but he would, and it would never be anything easy to shake off in the social structure of Engineering. The waiting was almost the worst part; Crewman Danes had been on edge for two weeks for simply moving one of the hand held scanners from Scotty's desk.

"Right then, any idea where that young Chappie might be?" Scotty asked, and almost sincere tone to his voice. But Emily could hear the mirth in the undertone.

"No idea, check the roster." She suggested, not wanting to be in Andrews' shoes when Scotty eventually tracked him down.

"I'll do that then." Scotty announced, stalking away to the door murmuring to himself, before adding, "She's behind that bulkhead." to someone in passing as he left the room.

Emily continued with her work even though she knew that someone was clearly there to see her, no one else was in the room, and there wasn't room for anyone else behind the bulkhead. Someone cleared their throat, trying to get her attention. "I'll be with you in a moment, just give me two seconds." She told whoever it was; she wanted to get finished up here so she wouldn't have to crawl back here again later on.

As the time progressed she could hear the other person shift uncomfortably in the silence, it had only been two minuets since she had told them to wait, but that was enough time to allow awkwardness to seep in apparently.

Sliding herself out with a flourish and a smile on her face, Emily sat up, only to have her smile widen at the sight of Pavel. "Why didn't you say it was you?"

He just shrugged a small blush rising to his cheeks. "Didn't think you'd like to talk when you were in the middle of something."

"It doesn't bother me if it's you silly." She lightly and joking scolded wrinkling her nose at him.

Pavel let out a little laugh before falling quiet again.

"Is there something you wanted from me Pav?" Emily asked before glancing at the chronometer on the wall behind him, and then frowning. "Shouldn't you be on the bridge by now?"

"I have been given permission to attend to something else before I resume duty." Pavel announced, again looking somewhat uncomfortable in his own skin. For some reason he kept shifting his weight from side to side, and his eyes didn't stay fixed on hers during the slight breaks in conversation.

"Do you need my help with something?" Emily was a little bit confused by Pavel's behaviour.

"Not… erm not right now." Pavel was too wound up. He couldn't do this now, not here at least. "What are you doing after this?"

Emily was frowning at him now; this was bizarre behaviour, even for Pavel and his odd quirks. "I was going to head down to cargo bay 2, Scotty wanted me to have to look at some of the improvements he's made on one of the shuttles. But if you need me for something, anything, it can wait."

That brought out a small smile of relief from Pavel. Emily had just said that she would put aside her work for him, regardless of what it was, surely that was something promising that showed the odds were in his favour. His simile did not miss Emily, who was still watching him closely. Though for her, she read it as a sign of his anxiousness.

"Can you meet me outside of my quarters at 1200 hours?"

"Sure." She replied brightly before a frown fell over her features as he seemed to visibly relax. "Pavel is everything ok?"

"Yes, everything is fine." He quickly reassured her, a small blush covering his cheeks, "So 1200 hours?"

"Yeah I'll see you then." She smiled to add to her confirmation and watched as Pavel seemed to leave the room with an added spring to his step with a slight frown on her face. He really could be weird sometimes, but that's what drew her to him, his quirks. So she shrugged his odd behaviour off.

Pavel was pacing nervously. It was already 1205 and Emily still wasn't here, she wasn't normally late to anything. His mind started racing. What if she had heard what about what he had done before he could speak to her properly? He'd spent all of his time between now and when he had asked her to meet him figuring out what he was going to say, but what if she didn't come? He could hear his heart pounding in his chest as the panic started to build. He'd never really been able to handle emotional stress. Put him in a battle situation where he was one of the last lines of defence between life and death for others and he was fine, but this had him sweating through his shirt.

"Pav?" A voice called out, but it was the wrong voice.

Turning on his heels, he came face to face with Hikaru.

"Hey, what's up? You look all antsy."

"I'm waiting to talk to Emily." Pavel managed to choke out, suddenly finding it hard to speak.

"Ah, right then. You gonna ask her?" Hikaru smiled hoping to convey solidarity, though Pavel's responding smile made him look a bit meek.

"I'm hoping to. I am concerned that I might… get it wrong."

Shaking his head, Hikaru placed a hand on Pavel's shoulder. "Listen buddy. This kind of stuff is hard, it's always harder the first time. So yeah, you're probably gonna make a mistake or two, but it's part of the learning curve. And you have a disturbingly steep learning curve, you're gonna be fine."

"You sure?"

"Absolutely, tell me how it goes 'kay?" Hikaru asked in parting, Pavel simply nodded. "Oh and I think I can hear her coming, good luck."

Pavel was only alone in the corridor for a few moments before the jogging form of Emily came around the corner. She was slight flushed, so she had been running to meet him.

"Oh Pavel I'm so sorry, there was a minor incident down in engineering and I couldn't leave. I'm so sorry I'm a bit late." She panted out resting her hands on her knees for a bit of support.

Seeing her like this put Pavel for some reason slightly at ease. It reminded him of the few times she had run across the campus back at the academy to make it to something on time, she always did hate being late for things. "It's fine, I wasn't waiting long."

"So, what is it you wanted to talk to me about?" Emily asked righting herself, despite the face she was still breathing heavily and her cheeks were still a pale shade of pink.

"Erm, yeah… well I was wondering if well…" The breath caught in his throat as he gazed down at his feet. Clearing his throat, and taking a soothing breath, he forced himself to make eye contact. "Ok, I was hoping that you'd go to the… the ball... with me…"

Ok I'm a cruel git, I'm aware of this and the next chapter is half way done, so worry not ;)