Posted by Commander Roman Alden (First Officer & Chief Science Officer) in side-sim: The Study of Kelmao

(snip)

Franks gave Alden the hypo before he could change his mind. He picked up his drink to cover the grin on his face. Anyone who knew Rand knew she wasn’t a problem. She went out of her way to be accommodating. He, of course, didn’t know anything about Alden and sickbay. What he did know was that Rand had bribed Alden into taking the meds the ‘night’ before. Morgan seemed to catch the look between the Cmdr and Yeoman and finally put 1 + 1 together to make 2. The look on her face made Franks laugh and then choke on his drink. He started coughing rapidly getting everyone’s attention. He shook his head and held a fist to his mouth, coughing into it. “Wrong.” More coughing and then a breathless “Wrong way.” He coughed a few more times before sipping at his drink. Then he dug into the food.

Roman was just happy it was only a hypo and quick. He was too distracted to catch the look on Morgan’s face. When he heard Franks choke on his drink, he looked up and smiled, shaking his head. “Inhaling your drink is generally bad for you,” he said, teasing Franks a little.

Franks cleared his throat once more and then a sip of his drink. Did Alden just crack a joke? Franks always liked working along side Alden. He was insightful and listened, and his strict rules kept the labs safe and running smoothly. He was easy to work with as long as you didn’t break the rules. But he had never heard Alden joke. He wasn’t going to hazard a guess, but it was either the field work or Rand or both. Either way, Franks didn’t mind the jab. “I’ll remember that, Sir.” At the same time he was keeping an ear turned towards the outside and any sounds that might warn of large animals.

Rand knew he hated it. She would have held his hand if he had wanted her to. He probably did, but not as much as he wanted to keep his secret. Instead she went back to her work on the PaDD. A few minutes later she handed him the PaDD. Franks knew how much Alden hated paperwork. He figured Rand was getting some of it done while he couldn’t get away. At the same time he was impressed with Rand’s work ethic. It was paperwork. Reports from each person and then a summary report. Things like “Read this page, sign on the next, initial here, and here. Then read and sign the last page.” The reports were thorough as always, but the last one wasn’t a report. Hidden underneath all the rest was, I love you.

Yeoman Rand

The paperwork was already starting. It was all Roman could do not to groan out loud. He signed each page that needed it, reading through the reports. There weren’t too many, yet, but missions like this always generated a bunch of paperwork. Come to think of it, the injuries would mean yet more paperwork. Making it through the stack, there was just one left. The smile spread slowly across his face as he looked up at Rand. If only they still at least had the privacy of the tents. He’d hug her.

~ Lt Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO

Valos on the other hand noticed the change in Alden’s attitude after Rand got picked on and he didn’t like it. He also didn’t like the way Alden was smiling at her because she’d been working on paper work rather than eating. There was no reason to make her work while the rest ate. But heading the Cmdr’s words he kept his thoughts to himself. He figured Rand waited all day for their work to be done so she could do hers, but still…

Rand took the PaDD back and didn’t quite hide her reaction to him smiling at her like that. She covered it by logging the actual reports into the PaDD’s memory and then leaned back against the wall to eat. It had gotten eerily quiet outside the cave, minus the crackling of the fire. Rand knew the reason for fire when camping, and she wondered if it was simply precautionary or if the team had found something worrisome.

Yeoman Rand