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"If we were married," Chekov mused, crossing his arms behind his head, "we could get a bigger bed."

From where she was comfortably snuggled by his side, Daphne's eyes snapped open. "What?"

"I stopped by Sulu's quarters. He and Jilla have a new bed. It's very big."

Gollub's heart had suddenly started to pound in her throat. She couldn't believe he was approaching an issue this significant so casually. "Are you talking about getting married?" She managed to choke out.

"I'm talking about Sulu's bed," he said, eyeing his own crowded bunk discontentedly. "It's huge. I'd estimate that it is more than twice as big as this one."

"Wait, wait," Daffy pulled herself up on her elbows, fighting her sudden panic. "What are you trying to say?"

"I'd like a bigger bunk," Chekov replied flatly, wondering why she was getting so emotional.

Panic was coalescing into pure claustrophobic terror. She liked him...liked him very much...maybe even loved him...at least a few days a week... But a long-term commitment? Oh, God! "And what does that have to do with getting married?"

"Nothing I suppose." The navigator chewed his lower lip thoughtfully. "They're not married, are they? I hadn't thought of that…"

"Look," she said as firmly as she could. "I don't think we need to be talking about getting married."

"Apparently not," Chekov agreed, then frowned. "That's not fair, though. We've been together longer than they have."

"Intermittently," Gollub pointed out.

"In terms of quarreling, yes. But in terms of where you sleep..."

So now she was the one pushing the relationship? "What are you trying to say?" Gollub demanded angrily.

"Dafshka, you sleep here as often as you sleep in your own quarters," the navigator rebutted as if this were an incontrovertible fact.

"I do not!" she snapped. "And if you're suggesting that I move in... Or that I have moved in..."

"Moving in," Chekov repeated, chewing on his thumb. "Perhaps that is it..."

"This is moving way too fast for me," Gollub said, throwing her hands up. If Chekov was trying some farkatke new way of initiating a break up, it was certainly working.

"Although they did not actually get married," the navigator was musing. "They did move in together. But if cohabitation is the only prerequisite for filing a request, then Thozd and I could feasibly requisition a double…"

Gollub's eyes narrowed. How dare he toy with her feelings this way! Was the future of their relationship just a joke to him? "Why don't you do that then?" she suggested, suddenly furious.

Chekov blinked at her as she grabbed her boots from the floor and stormed across the room. "Dafshka?"

"I hope the two of you will be very happy!" she hissed as she exited, sincerely wishing that starship doors were equipped with a "slam" setting.

The navigator looked blankly after her for a few moments before sighing and settling himself more comfortably in his suddenly empty bed.

Women, he decided, were even harder to interpret than Starfleet requisitioning requirements.