Posted by Commander Roman Alden (First Officer & Chief Science Officer) in Sleepless Indulgence

Posted by Ensign Rand Farquharson (Yeoman First Class) in Sleepless Indulgence
Rand had tossed and turned in the dark for the last two hours. She couldn’t sleep. Two nights ago, after dinner, she’d slept fine. Randy would probably tell her it was because her mind and nerves had expelled enough energy in her roller coaster of anxiety to exhaust her. Of course he couldn’t tell her that because she wasn’t telling him she had dinner with Roman. She would, eventually, when she knew that Randy picking on her and lecturing her and generally being in big brother mode wouldn’t drive her crazy or embarrass her. Now, tonight and the night before she couldn’t sleep. Every time she closed her eyes all she could see was the horrible party, trying flutily to convince the director to call her parents and then waking up in the hospital with a team of professional but extremely concerned doctors and family over her. She tried thinking about something else, she tried not laying on her back, she’d had made a Scottish coffee with extra whisky, but still she toss and turned. One night of little sleep was okay, more than that was liable to slow her down, and if she let it continue she’d be so tired it would affect her work.

And then she and Roman would both be in trouble. The irony in the thought made her smirk slightly but this just wouldn’t do. She considered waking Randy up and talking to him, but when she glanced over at her twin he looked too exhausted, even in sleep, and she didn’t want him to worry. She got up quietly, slipped a robe on and stepped into the corridor. She wanted to go for a run, let her mind wander and just let go, but a run would just wake her up, and her foot wasn’t quite ready for a run yet. She paced down the corridor and paused, looking at the door beside her. Roman she raised her hand to knock and then stopped. If he was actually asleep she didn’t want to wake him. He had enough trouble sleeping, he didn’t need her waking him up, but if he was still awake, it would be okay to knock. She hesitated again though, if he was awake he would have come and gotten her already, right?

Roman was awake, and much like Rand, he’d already been through the tossing and turning, trying to think of something relaxing, anything, but as usual, the only thing that would put him to sleep was time. Or Rand, but he’d gone to her so frequently recently, he considered just making the tea she’d given him for himself. But instead, he found himself sat up on his bunk, reading.

She paced away and walked up and down the corridor trying to work the jumpy nerves out. This kept on for several minutes, Rand walking up and down he corridor on soft bare feet. Pausing occasionally to knock on his door and then change her mind and pace some more. Finally she decided she would just knock softly, that if he was awake he would hear it and if he was asleep it wouldn’t bother him.

Rand

Footsteps pulled Roman’s attention away from his book. Outside, the footsteps came close to his door, and then receded down the hall. And then they were close again, and then they faded away once more. The sound was soft, he might’ve missed it, except this deck was always dead silent this time of night. A few minutes passed, and the footsteps did not stop. Finally, he set the PaDD he was reading on down and went to the door, letting it open. On the other side of the door, now right in front of him was… “Rand. What’s wrong?” He seemed concerned, she never came by. It was always him knocking on her door.

~ Roman

Rand stood there, hand half raised to knock, and silent. His sudden appearance in the door way as she was once again contemplating knocking surprised her. Then she realized she was standing there, bare-foot, robe over her night gown, middle of the night, and she was eternally grateful to whatever power decided to always make this deck vacant at this hour. As she had paced, Rand had even considered that part of the problem was she hadn’t had tea and talked with Roman before she went to bed. That at this point it was part of her nightly routine and therefore she simply could not settle and sleep. She wouldn’t tell him that though, he’d feel guilty. On the other hand, Rand rather liked the idea. Not that he couldn’t sleep but that spending that time with him had become so routine it was now necessary. She wasn’t sure she would admit to that, but she liked the idea better than what was keeping her up the last few nights.

She looked up at him a moment later and then a quiet sigh escaped. “I…I can’t sleep.”

Rand