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

Posted by Ensign Rand Farquharson (Yeoman First Class) in side-sim: The Reckoning

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

(snip)

It was nearly two hours later the trouble started, as he’d suspected it might. He began to twitch lightly in his sleep, and then his mouth moved as if he were going to say something, but he was still asleep and no sound came out. His face looked pinched like on Kelmao when he’d had one. His heart rate had dropped to a near normal number when he first fell asleep, now it was going back up.

~ Roman

Rand squeezed his hand firmly and rubbed his arm. Rand had had nightmares of her own before, but not like the kind Roman had. She didn’t really know what to do to help him, but she promised to stay awake incase he had one. Now he was. She spoke quietly to him reminding him he was on the Sentinel, with her. She didn’t mention the Ardent or his leg or sickbay. She looked at the time, she needed to wake him up so he could be aware when the doctor came in to start the next session. She didn’t want him to wake up to that and panic more. “Roman…” she rubbed a hand up and down his arm, “You’re on the Sentinel, with me. You fell asleep while we were watching a movie. But it’s time to wake up now.” She kept talking to him, nothing of much importance, just using her voice. She kissed his cheek at one point, “I love you.”

Rand

It seemed to be Rand’s tone, her voice, more than what exactly she was saying that helped. As she talked quietly, Roman seemed calmer. Her touch seemed to help as well as she rubbed his arm and squeezed his hand. A little while after she kissed his cheek, his eyes popped open and he tried to sit up, giving the room a long look. “Rand?” He asked, though he was not as panicked as when he’d woken up that morning. Still looking tired, he closed his eyes again and squeezed her hand. “What time is it?”

~ Roman

As he seemed to calm some Rand kept talking. Just like on Kelmao he seemed to respond to her touch so she kept that up too. Make sure to be firm enough to be felt but not so insistent it startled him. She rubbed her thumb over the back of his hand, “I’m here.” He didn’t sound as panicked but she could still hear the slight edge to his voice. She was glad she’d chosen to stay awake. “Almost 0200.” She decided not to mention the nightmare right out. She was sure he knew he was having one, and there was no reason to state the obvious. “They’ll be in, in about half an hour for your next session. I thought you’d want to be awake.” She kissed his cheek again. “I’m glad you got some sleep though. I can start to movie over where you feel asleep.” Her voice was soft, slow. Giving him time to focus on what she was saying, but mostly she was talking to help him focus on her and not where he was.

Rand

Roman was glad she’d woken him. 0200 was a common time for him to wake and at least it hadn’t been earlier. And who’s bright idea was it to do a session at 0230? If he had been able to sleep and he was woken he’d have been frustrated. He was still trying to calm himself back down and there was still a bit of an edge to his voice when he spoke again. “I do, thanks.” He pulled her a little closer when she kissed his cheek again, like an awkward half-hug. “Last I remember…” and he told her where the movie had been when he stopped being awake enough to remember it. He was trying not to let the sounds of Sickbay bother him, but after one of his dreams it seemed like each noise something made caused him to tense. Rand’s voice helped, both because it helped to cover the sounds and because her voice was soothing.

~ Roman

Rand laid against him as he pulled her closer and hugged him. She took his other hand and held it over his heart and just breathed with him while she hugged him. She hated the noises of sickbay, and it was always worse when she was the patient. She figured it was worse for Roman too. But despite all that, hugging him was still her favorite thing. She wasn’t sure it would make him feel better, but she quietly admitted, “You know I think I like this private room. I get to hug you whenever I want. Couldn’t do that on Kelmao.” Not moving too much she reached over to the console and quickly found the last scene he remembered. Then she turned the volume up just a little to help cover the noise. She would have turned the lights up, but she didn’t want to move, instead she turned a little on her side so she could watch the movie and still hug him.

Half an hour later Shrine came in. She quietly took his vitals and went about setting up the machines for the doctor. Since Rand was on his non-injured side, and Alden’s heart rate was relatively low, she saw no reason to make Rand move for the moment. The over night doctor had different ideas. “Ensign, I am sure you have quarters you can go sleep in,” he groused as he came in and turned the lights up brightly. “The Cmdr needs rest not to be fawned over.” Rand’s eyes went really wide, and she sat up as soon as the light turned up. She squeezed Roman’s hand tightly. He didn’t have a restricted visitation schedule, she checked. She swallowed before saying anything, she didn’t want to stammer. “I wasn’t sleeping Dr. we were watching a movie. No one told us his visitation restrictions changed.” The eyed her…leave to a yeoman to know whether or not she was in the wrong. “It hasn’t. Just…don’t get in the way.” He worked quickly, to set up the machines, and then asked Alden if he was still numb before starting the machines again, and then left. Rand wondered if he was the type to gossip.

Shrine turned the lights down some and patted Rand on the shoulder after the doctor left. “I’ll be back in an hour or so. Do either of you want drink or food?”

Rand