ken_ichijouji | Fic: To the End (La Comédie) 6b/7

This is part two of chapter six. Part one can be found here.

“If I could have everyone’s attention please,” the emcee announced after dinner was served.

After all the hellos and thank yous were said, pictures were taken, and everyone regrouped at the hotel’s banquet hall, Bones and Jim finally had a moment to sit and breathe.

Obviously, it was just that: a moment.

“It’s time for the happy couple to have their first dance,” the woman continued. “Come on up you two, the floor is yours.”

Jim and Bones smiled at each other for a moment. They stood and took their place in the middle of the dance floor.

The DJ, however, was baffled. She whispered something to the emcee, who started to snicker. “Hey lovebirds? We need the song.”

The happy couple looked at each other.

“It’s yours,” Bones said at the same time Jim went, “Go ahead.”

There was an awkward moment’s silence.

“No seriously, your vows won,” Jim said quickly. “I mean, mine were good, but yours were just so you.”

“No, yours were more emotional than mine, you won hands-down,” Bones replied. “People will be talking about yours for years.”

“No way, they’ll remember yours more, I promise you that.”

As he quickly assessed the situation with a roll of his eyes, Hikaru stood from his table. He made his way to the DJ and smiled at her. “Hi. You’ve got The Luckiest, right?”

“Of course,” she said with a grin as she reached for the disc with the relevant song.

“Okay, good. Knock yourself out, because otherwise we’ll be here all night.” He turned and took his seat again. Nyota, Geoff, and Christine all flashed him the thumbs up sign as Scotty and Chekov grinned. Spock merely nodded his approval.

A gentle piano melody began to play throughout the hall, and Jim and Bones paused mid-argument to look at their friends. Everyone was gesturing at them to get on with it except Spock.

“Our friends suck.”

“That they do,” Bones agreed. He held out a hand and placed his other on Jim’s waist. “I’m leading.”

The captain sighed as he placed one hand on Bones’ shoulder and the other in his hand. “Yes, Mister Cotillion.”

“That’s Doctor Cotillion.”

“Yeah, yeah.” They began to sway to the music, moving closer to one another as the song progressed. “It’s a good call, the song I mean.”

“It is,” he agreed.

“I am, you know,” Jim continued as a blush formed on his cheeks. “The luckiest.”

“I suppose that makes two of us, then.”

“I suppose it does.” They continued swaying to the music as camera flashes went off around them. Bones smiled and held him closer. Eventually, the song ended, and they parted to the sound of applause.

“Now it’s time for the mother-son, father-daughter dance...”

“We’re not going to get to eat, are we,” Jim whispered through his smile.

“Eventually,” Bones whispered back as he held out his arms to Joanna.

-----

The happy couple were finally able to sit down and eat, while more people were out on the dance floor enjoying themselves.
 Admiral Pike stood with a glass of scotch in his left hand. God bless Jim and McCoy for having an open bar, although he suspected it was as much for themselves as it was for the guests. He stood by the bar and watched the crowd.

Janice stood next to Nyota Uhura’s chair as the two of them caught up; Christopher remembered her saying in the short time they knew each other on the Enterprise that they had become close.

Janice was wearing a dark blue gown and her hair was done up in a style even more elaborate than the ones she typically wore. He briefly wondered what it would be like to see her hair down for a change.

The current song ended and a new one started up, one that he was particularly fond of.

Well, she wouldn’t mind; she and Uhura could catch up more later. He walked over to his assistant and placed a hand on the small of her back. Janice jumped a little and looked up into his eyes.

“Lieutenant, do you mind if I borrow my assistant for a moment?”

Nyota gave the two of them a knowing glance. Nothing got by her, did it? No wonder she had snagged Spock. “Not at all. We’ll catch up more later, Jan.”

With a smile, he began to steer her onto the dance floor. When she realized what was happening, she stiffened a little.

“No, sir, I don’t...this isn’t...”

“Oh come on,” he said, “Richard’s dancing with his assistant.”

Pausing to look over his shoulder, she blinked for a moment. Sure enough, Admiral Barnett was dancing with his assistant, Charles. She opened her mouth to say something before closing it again.

There really wasn’t much room to argue.

He took her hand and they began to dance. At first it was awkward; little by little, she began to relax. She didn’t move too close to him, but she stopped looking so nervous.

Christopher looked down at her with a grin, and she smiled back.

If they danced through a few more songs together, well...no one seemed to care.

-----

Jim looked out at the various partygoers with a fond smile.

It was just about time for he and Bones to take off, otherwise they’d risk missing their shuttle to Maui. He sighed a little. They would be spending five days there before heading back to Savannah to spend six days with Jo. It was a great deal of traveling, but it was worth it.

Bones came up behind him and placed a hand on the small of his back. “What’s on your mind?”

“Nothing, really,” Jim replied as he leaned into him. “Just happy.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.” He turned to smile at him. “What about you?”

“Me?” Bones pretended to think for a minute. “Don’t think I’ve been happier.”

The expression on his face softened a great deal. “Really?”

“Wouldn’t say it if it wasn’t true.”

“No, I know, I just,” Jim said. “I don’t know why I asked that actually.”

Bones moved to hold him a little closer and he went willingly. “Don’t worry about it.”

“Okay.” They stood together in companionable silence, neither of them wanting to move. Finally, Jim sighed. “We should say goodbye to everyone or else we won’t make it.”

“You’re probably right, we’ve got quite a few hands to shake.” Bones pointed to a group of the admiralty. “Let’s start with them and work our way up to our families since they’ll take the longest.”

“A tactically sound plan,” Jim said with a nod. “I approve. C’mon, Bones, let’s go.”

They joined their hands and began to make their rounds.

-----

Pavel Chekov helped himself to some of the memento candies that were in a dish in the middle of his table. They were cute, shaped like Starfleet emblems with the captain and the doctor’s names on them. He took a bite of one, and his eyes lit up at the flavor.

They were also surprisingly high-quality chocolate.

He watched what all his friends were doing. Kirk and McCoy had taken off a little while ago after making the rounds and bidding farewell to their guests. While sometimes their “epic” love made him roll his eyes, he was genuinely happy for them. He wished them nothing but the best for their honeymoon.

Looking back out to the dance floor, he saw that Janice Rand was dancing with the Admiral. They appeared to be laughing together over something. Pavel liked Janice, so it was nice to see her happy and not just focused on work like she was since they got back to Earth.

Nyota and Spock were dancing as well. For the first time in days, Spock looked like himself. He was also concentrating very hard on the steps, much to his fiancée’s amusement. She was smiling up at him, and she made him pause for a kiss.

Nurse Chapel and Hikaru were by the bar getting drinks. They were talking animatedly to one another, having obviously worked things out. Good. Pavel took a sip of his vodka tonic. It was touch and go for a while, so he was glad that they were okay.

Although he was definitely still afraid of her.

He turned his attention to the subject of most of his thoughts these days. Scotty was talking to one of his old professors.

Pavel sighed.

For a minute on that shuttle, it seemed like things were going back to the way they were. Apart from some significant looks during the ceremony, that was it. Maybe it was time to give up on him and find someone else. He sighed and focused his attention again on Scotty as someone sat next to him.

“You should just tell him,” the person said and Pavel choked on his vodka.

He slowly turned and looked into the eyes of Hikaru Sulu. Pavel wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

“I mean, you’ve always been really direct when you’ve wanted someone,” Sulu continued. “I get that you really like him, but it’s not like you to beat around the bush.”

Pavel blinked owlishly.

“That’s not going to work,” Hikaru asked with a frown. “You’ve already tried it?”

“Why are you speaking to me,” Pavel blurted. “Have said ten words in four months.”

Sulu took a sip of his margarita for a moment before answering. “You were kind to me earlier when you could have just told me to quit my whining. In fact, six months ago you would have told me to quit my whining had a fight happened between us.”

Pavel opened his mouth to protest before closing it. It was true, he wasn’t the most mature person on the ship before Hikaru stopped speaking to him.

“So I’m returning the favor.” Hikaru leaned towards him. “I know you two spend a lot of time together. You practically skip every time you head out to see him.”

The Russian winced. “Noticeable?”

“Incredibly.”

He winced again. “I will try to hide it better.”

Sulu shook his head. “That’s the opposite of what I’m telling you. You’re already hiding compare to how you normally act. Just drop the manners and go for it.”

Pavel looked at him for a long time. “I still do not understand why you are speaking with me.”

Hikaru set his drink down. “I don’t like grudges. They’re poisonous, and apparently I’m good at holding onto them. I’m trying to not do that anymore.” He looked down at the tablecloth for a moment before turning his gaze back to Pavel. “I’m not saying we’re going to be best friends again right away, or even ever necessarily, but I don’t have to be hostile to you. At the end of the day, you’re a good person, Pavel. I forgot that for a little while, but you reminded me today and I thank you for it.” He smiled. “So enough of this, go get your engineer!”

“I...” Pavel found he was speechless. “Hikaru...”

The pilot was laughing. “Don’t thank me, just go!”

Chugging the rest of his drink to give him a bit of liquid courage, Pavel stood and began to make his way over to Scotty. The professor he was speaking with made his way over to greet someone else, and Scotty was alone as he took a sip of his whiskey.

Pavel took a deep breath. Normally, this was easy, but given how erratic Scotty had been over the past few days there was no way to tell how this would go.

Oh well, it was worth a try.

Turning up the charm with a winning smile, Pavel came over and put his hand on Scotty’s shoulder. He started a little at his touch and turned to face him.

“Been looking for you,” Pavel said, still smiling that smile. Scotty turned red and adjusted his tie.

“You found me,” he said somewhat nervously. “Look, Pavel I...I owe you...”

“1423,” he said, cutting him off. “That is my room number.”

Scotty blinked at him for a moment. “I don’t follow.”

“You should meet me there in ten minutes,” he continued. He reached up and gently touched his chin. “Don’t make me wait.”

With that he turned and sashayed out of the reception hall, leaving a bewildered and blushing Scotty in his wake.

The same Scotty who took a moment to contemplate what the hell just happened. On the one hand, while he knew Pavel and he felt the same way for each other he was still unsure whether the two of them getting together was a good idea.

Then again...apparently, no apologies were necessary. More to the point, Pavel wanted him, and he wanted Pavel.

What was there really to fret over?

“Aye, old man,” he said with a shake of his head. “Get over yourself.”

With a grin forming on his face, he made his way out of the hall, through the lobby, and up the elevator. He was at room 1423 in minutes, but he hesitated slightly before knocking on the door.

It slowly opened and there was Pavel in just his dress shirt and slacks.

“Hi,” Scotty began. “I just...I’m...”

Without another word, Pavel grabbed him by the lapels and pulled him inside. He slammed the door closed behind them.

There really wasn’t much to say after that.

Chapter 6a | Epilogue