Posted by Lieutenant Commander Roman Alden (First Officer & Chief Science Officer) in side sim - Sickbay Shenanigans

Posted by Ensign Rand Farquharson (Yeoman First Class) in side sim - Sickbay Shenanigans

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Roman Alden (First Officer & Chief Science Officer) in side sim - Sickbay Shenanigans
Posted by… suppressed (5) by the Post Ghost! 👻
Elbbirt had finished with the bone fuser, put the book back on her foot and left. Shrine had busied herself reading her vitals on the display above the bed. Cpt Rogers had stayed for awhile with that adorable kitten. Poor thing really needed medical care. Rand had no idea of anyone in sickbay was willing to attempt to treat it, but she knew Roman would. He was amazing with animals and would do what he could. He liked animals even if he tried to keep his distance with the ones in the lab. She hoped that Roger’s took Willow to him.

Her foot hurt. It was throbbing and every once in a while there was a sharp stabbing/slicing pain that went through it if she accidently tried to move it. Shrine had tried to give Rand more pain killers, but she was being ridiculously stubborn and refusing them. They said they were coming back in the morning for another round with the bone fuser and Rand had no intention of doing that again. She hurt enough that the reports she was staring at trying to finalize stayed that way because she couldn’t concentrate, and she hurt too much to sleep. Now rationally, Rand knew it would be better to take the meds and sleep because she wasn’t getting work done anyway. But she had this bizarre notion in her head that she was going to go down the corridor to the biology lab to see Nibbles. Yep, she wanted to see Nibbles, not anyone else.

So while Nurse Temple was busy in another part of sickbay Rand decided that she was going to see. It wasn’t far and she’d be back before anyone noticed. She sat up and carefully swung her legs down and slid off the bed, putting her weight on her good foot, she leaned against the bed for support and began to quietly hop toward the door.

Yeoman Rand

Roman had failed to make it in to visit after he’d gone off duty for the day, something he felt bad about for reasons he couldn’t discern. He didn’t have to go. But he did want to. That night, he was having his usual problems sleeping, and after barely two hours asleep he was awake. After his talk with Rand, usually, he’d go to her, but she was in Sickbay, and so he spent about a half hour deciding what to do.

Seeing Rand won that internal debate, and next thing Roman knew, he was headed down to Deck 9. If she was asleep, like she was supposed to be, he’d simply go back to his quarters. Or maybe hang out in his lab for a while. Not like he’d be sleeping anytime soon anyway.

As he reached the Sickbay, he paused briefly at the door before entering, and then headed for Rand’s bed. But before he reached the bed, he found her hopping for the door, a remarkably Roman-like thing to do. “Where are you going?” He asked as he headed up to her.

~ Lt Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO

Rand was making very slow progress toward the door, being very careful to not put weight on her ankle, and the boot make things awkward and bulky. At the sound of his voice in the dark and utterly quiet room, Rand startled, hand covering her mouth to stop from making a sound, and stepped back on her injured foot. Pain shot up her leg, making the knee buckle and she grabbed for the nearest thing to stop from falling, which was Roman…ALDEN. She squeezed her eyes shut, shifted her weight to her good leg, and breathed through the stabbing pain. Very quietly and forced, to stop from admitting how much that hurt and what a stupid idea it was to get up, Rand answered him, “I was going to lab.” She was NOT going to admit she was doing something stupid or how much she was hurting now, and that she wished she’d just taken the medication, but it was written all over her face, for someone who knew her well enough.

Yeoman Rand

Roman caught her as she grabbed on to him, trying to keep her from falling over entirely. She’d caused her self a lot of pain, he could tell. And yet, he understood why she’d done it, he would have too. But it was clear she wasn’t ready for that yet. “Back to bed, then, you’re not supposed to be leaving,” he said. “And you’re supposed to be sleeping, not sneaking into my lab in the middle of the night,” he added. Roman would gladly help her back to bed, to avoid her causing herself more pain.

~ Lt Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO

She started to protest and then a thought occurred to her. Why was he here? He hated sickbay, but here he was, middle of the night, telling her to stay in the one place he avoided like the plague. She remembered Randy telling her about his onboarding exam in addition to what she knew about him. Resigned to the fact she wasn’t getting out of sickbay, right then, she deflated a bit, or maybe it was just the pain. “Okay…” He was really close. Why was he standing so close to her? Not that she minded…oh OH she was holding onto him where she almost fell. As she tried to figure out how to let go of him and not loose her balance she tried to distract herself from him by answering him. “I couldn’t sleep, and that dia uamhasach bone fuser is like a torture device.” She turned around very slowly…so much for that idea. “I wasn’t sneaking into the lab I was sneaking out of here, but you caught me.” She wanted to ask him why he was there but the idea of actually asking him made her heart race with anxiety. How many hops to get back to the bed?

Yeoman Rand

Supporting her so she didn’t have to put weight on the injured foot, he’d let her climb into the bed herself. “Aren’t they giving you something that makes you sleep?” He asked. He chose not to comment on the bone fuser, honestly he had to agree, that thing was awful. “It’s only a few more days that you’ve got to stay and you can’t hardly walk now.” That much was obvious, watching her attempt to balance as she tried to let go of his arm.

~ Lt Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO

Rand didn’t want to lean on him okay she did, but she shouldn’t, a woman officer did not lean on a superior officer no matter how much help she truly needed. People talked and Rand did not want gossip spread about Ro..Cmdr Alden. She needed to get ahold of herself. Middle of the night, helping her back to bed, half carrying her, whispering and conspiring to cover up the fact she was trying to sneak out, wasn’t helping. How anyone could think he was anything but a wonderfully compassionate man....perfect example of an officer…yep gotta keep her head on, but she did like him and…and…best not to think about, but she blushed in the dark medical bay.

Then he asked about something to help her sleep. She wouldn’t look at him! She was noticable red now. “Um…I…I wouldn’t take it.” How else would she be awake to sneak out? She reached down and lifted her foot back onto the bed, closing her eyes and gritting her teeth, she was not going to be a baby about the pain in front of him. Even if it was obvious she was in pain, and she couldn’t walk, and that made her worthless.

Yeoman Rand

Roman shook his head. “You should have, then you’d be happily asleep rather than joining me in being awake all night,” he said. Roman was looking at her face, he could see her turn red, and he had no idea why, except that, of course, he’d shown up in the middle of the night, probably seemingly to help her, and he realized just then how that might come across and suddenly he was embarrassed, too. But why? He knew it wasn’t like that, didn’t he? That’s all that should matter, people could gossip all they wanted. He’d never cared about that.

~ Lt Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO

He wasn’t wrong but she’d wanted to go to the lab rather than be talked to and yapped at and deal with socializing with the nurses and med staff. The only reprieve had been Randy who had decided to be ‘big brother’ and ‘medical professional’ and make her comply with the medical orders. It was just, in the lab she felt calm and kind of normal. She wasn’t on duty and it was kind of like socializing, she was around people and Roman…Alden…Cmdr Alden (AH!!) didn’t trigger her anxiety and when he was around the other lab techs didn’t either…why was that?

“I guess so. Then you wouldn’t have had to come in here when you caught me, you could be in the lab working.” It never occured to her that Alden was there for her. She was sitting up but having to adjust her foot every so often, trying to find a position to leave it that wasn’t painful. Though she grimmaced and winced a few times she didn’t whine about it. She should probably put it back on the wedge but she would have to lay back and she didn’t want him to think she was tired and then leave. And she wasn’t brave enough to ask him if he would stay and talk with her. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there to make you coffee.” It was the only thing she could think of to say.

Yeoman Rand