Posted by Lieutenant Commander Roman Alden (First Officer & Chief Science Officer) in Side sim: Try Not to Sleep on Duty

(snip)

After he left, Rand went and picked up the reports, and seemed to input the information into the computer and then returned them (to the completed basket) for the next shift to review before she collected the evening reports. In the Galley, Alden would find that his dinner was indeed ready, but the cook had packed it for him to take with him if he didn’t want to eat right away. Rand had thought of everything. But the quiet message was clear, ‘Your shift if over, stop working.’

Yeoman Rand

After he picked up the dinner, he had to smile. She’d thought of everything. The message was clear, but apparently, he wasn’t very good at listening, because as soon as he returned to his quarters he was using the computer system to do research, the meal opened so he could eat it slowly as he worked.

~ Lt Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO

It wasn’t until a few hours later that Rand returned to her own quarters after bringing Rogers the end of day reports. Rand practically climbed into bed, early for once, ready to sleep. But after a few short hours of sleep she was wide awake. What to do about Alden? One day of exhausted behavior wasn’t concerning, was it? It happened to everyone. But she could tell it must have been several days already for him to make such basic errors. Who did she tell? Should she tell? Should she confront him?

Finally, giving up at staring at the darkness and Randy’s rhythmic breathing she got up and decided to make herself tea....but then she heard it, it was soft but in the utter quiet and stillness she could hear his pacing on the other side of the wall. She made two cups, Soothing Caramel Bedtime Tea (Yogi Teas: Chamomile Flower, Skullcap, and L-Theanine, Naturally sweet Rooibos with Vanilla and Caramel). Carrying both cups with her she stepped into the corridor, wrapped in her robe and softly knocked on his door.

Yeoman Rand

Sometime later, dinner eaten and uniform put away nicely for the next day, Roman climbed into bed. Rand’s methods seemed to work well, he was in a dead sleep in record time. But a mere hour later, he shot up in a hurry, a cold sweat along his forehead. With a glance around and then a sigh, he rolled over and tried to go back to sleep, but each time he closed his eyes, the same scene that woke him up reappeared, and he found himself tossing and turning. Unable to get back to sleep, he began to pace his quarters, as was basically habit now. It was something to do besides lie there in the dark.

And then he heard it, a soft knock at the door. A look at the clock said it was midnight, far too late for anything duty related, unless there was a lab emergency. But then, the knocking would not be so soft he could’ve missed it if it weren’t dead silent. “Come in,” he said, loud enough to be heard through the door. He threw on an undershirt and a pair of exercise shorts, not wanting to answer the door in nothing but his underpants.

~ Lt Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO

The door opened and in walked Rand. Red hair disheveled, like she couldn’t sleep either, having been finger combed back out of her face and hanging down her back, and wrapped in long soft cotton robe. She smiled sheepishly and handed him one of the steaming mugs of tea without a word. Then, feeling nervous, and trying to fill the silence. “My grandmother used to make this for me when I couldn’t sleep.”

Yeoman Rand