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

Posted by Ensign Rand Farquharson (Yeoman First Class) in side-sim: The Reckoning
Posted by… suppressed (3) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)
Rand held his hand when he reached for hers and then he was squeezing it. Squishing the life out of it. She didn’t say anything; she just let him keep squeezing. She leaned over and whispered in his ear. That she loved him, that he should really watch the last movie on the disk. That as soon as he got back to his quarters he could have all his notes from Kelmao. That they would look at the pictures she took.

Elbbirt looked up, he didn’t like how fast Roman’s heart was beating or the way he was breathing. “That depends on how quickly your body adjust to the return of feeling. A day give or take.”

Roman wasn’t sure he was going to last a whole day like this. The pain was so intense, he barely registered what was being said to him. His face was beaded with sweat. Rand’s touch barely seemed to register, as if the pain was simply all his brain could process. He closed his eyes, trying to focus on something other than the pain. He didn’t want pain meds. He had to hang on. He couldn’t have the Kelmao notes if he had the pain meds.

Rand tried to reach his other hand but couldn’t from where she was, so she rubbed his arm and shoulder and kept talking to him, but he didn’t seem to hear her, or maybe his mind simply couldn’t focus. Randy shared a glance with Elbbirt, the rest of Alden’s body was twitching from the pain and if they let it go on much longer his mind would shut down and he’d pass out. But that wouldn’t stop the pain, he would just be unaware of it. And this kind of physical stress was not conductive to helping Alden get past his previous trauma.

Roman was grinding his teeth and the monitors sounded like a galloping horse and his breathing was strained and the bones in her hand might bruise…or break. She whispered into his ear, “Roman, take the pain meds.” She hugged him, it was awkward from where she was standing but she did, holding onto him. She looked at Elbbirt, “He’ll start coming off the pain meds once it’s under control, right?”

Elbbirt nodded, “That’s the plan. Get him comfortable and his body out of danger of shock and then start lowering the dose.” Rand squeezed his shoulder. Elbbirt knew he was in pain, and he was dangerously close to his body giving out from the pain, his heart, blood pressure, respiration, were dangerously high. He wanted Alden to consent to the meds, to know he needed it, but he didn’t think that was going to happen. “He can’t leave until the pain is under control and his vitals are normal.”

Roman gave a little shake of his head. He did not want pain meds. Not even now. It was awkward from the angle she was at, but she hugged him. He wanted to hug her back but his hand refused to unclamp itself from the side of the biobed. The other one was still hanging on to her hand. Couldn’t leave where? Of course he couldn’t leave. He couldn’t move. Couldn’t think about much else, either.

This was ridiculous. Rand, if she could get her hand away from Roman, was going to give him the meds herself and they could all yell at her later. He was going to pass out, she could tell from the way he was hyperventilating and his heart was going too fast. And he might not notice but she noticed the looks that Elbbirt and Randy were giving each other. She stared hard at Randy till he looked at her, “Just give it to him.”

He didn’t notice their looks. He did hear her try to get Randy to give it to him, and he gave another little shake of the head. His stubborness was truly rediculous. Roman tried to let go of her hand, he was sure he was hurting her, but like the other one, his hand would not let go.

Rand leaned back into him and lowered her voice to his ear. “Just rip the band-aid off, Roman, and take the meds.”

Rand

The heightened vitals were making him lightheaded. Roman couldn’t make himself look up but he could hear the biobed’s monitors. His fresh clothes were now sweaty. Everything was way too high. He was either going to pass out, or… Rand was leaned into him. Whispering something. If it wasn’t taking everything he had to stay conscious, to keep from screaming or crying or something, he’d have groaned. That’s what he told her when she broke her ankle. And he still didn’t want them. But much longer like this and the pain alone might kill him. Finally, without any idea how much time has actually passed, he gave a small nod, a subtle sign of consent for the meds. “Okay.” Even with the meds, he felt like he was still going to be in pain. But at least it wouldn’t be this much.

~ Roman

Elbbirt grabbed the hypo and gave it to him. Right now Alden was getting half the full dosage. It should work quickly and with Alden’s pain tolerance it might be enough, but if his vitals didn’t go down Elbbirt was going to give him more. Rand leaned into him. “That should help, just breath with me, Roman.” She put her free hand over his heart and tried to get him to breath, but she couldn’t help but notice how the rest of his body had been reacting to the pain. There was no reason for him to choose pain, and watching was breaking her heart.

Rand

The medication was fast-acting by design, and it was just another few moments before it took effect, his body relaxing some as the pain level dropped. Rand leaned into him again, her free hand over his still rapidly beating heart. Roman tried to slow his breathing, to breathe with Rand, but his body still refused to cooperate. At least he had some freedom over his mind now. Rand looked upset. He was still too distracted to realize it was because he was in pain. He was still far from relaxed, still in the worst pain he’d ever had in his life, but it was a fraction of what it was a moment ago. He didn’t want it, but it looked like he was going to need the rest of the dose. While his mind could tolerate his current pain level, his body seemed to refuse to, his vitals still reading way too high, refusing to cooperate with his attempts to breathe slowly with Rand.

~ Roman

Elbbirt didn’t bother to wait for Alden to consent again. He just took it for granted that Alden agreed to the determining the correct dosage. Things were better, but not great. “Randy give him the full dose of anti-inflammatories.” And Elbbirt gave him another quarter of a dose. Between the two Elbbirt was hoping they would be enough to bring his vitals down.

Rand squeezed his shoulder before resting her hand back over his heart. Then she was looking over at Randy and shook her head. Roman was still almost crushing her hand with no sign of relaxing his grip. Leaned into him she could even hear his teeth grinding together. But she continued to breath slowly. She would have squeezed his hand in rhythm with her breaths, but she couldn’t do anything with the hand he was holding. She whispered softly to him, “Just keep breathing, it will get better.” Rand tapped her shoulder and she looked up, taking a cold damp cloth from him and placed it along the back of Roman’s neck, after she wiped his face. She felt sick watching him in so much pain, and suddenly she felt really bad about making him watch her refuse the pain meds when they were treating her foot.

Rand

Another few moments passed, and the effects of the quarter dose were quickly visible. Roman’s vitals began to drop, still too high but not as high, and his muscles were still tense, but not bone-crushingly so. The damp cloth felt nice after the pain and subsequent reaction of his body left him hot and sweaty. By now he was really lightheaded, but that was starting to get better as his vitals dropped some. He had entirely missed that Elbbirt had already given him meds twice, in partial doses. He only knew about the first one. He wanted to say something, that he’d be okay, but the hyperventilation had left him feeling out of breath, and he waited instead, just letting himself breathe.

~ Roman

Elbbirt watched the monitors. “We’ll hold here, see if it keeps dropping.” He checked the tricorder, “His endorphin levels are already going up and the meds are counteracting the adrenaline.” He reached over and nodded for Rand to step back to the side and then lowered the some to encourage his body to relax. “We’ll give it ten minutes Cmdr. If your vitals keep dropping, we’ll hold here. If not, then we’ll try another partial dose. Randy, let’s do cold compresses above and below the site. See if that helps at all.” He pulled the chair over and turned it so Rand could sit facing him. He was going to have to see about her hand. “You seem to have a calming effect on him, En. Keep it up.” While Randy took care of the compresses, Elbbirt took a blood sample so he could check the myoglobin and potassium levels. If those were low enough he could stop the treatment for those and let Alden’s body naturally filter it out, and that would let his heart rate drop.

Rand sat in the chair, urging Roman to bring their joined hands down to his chest so she could sit without having to stretch across him. Then she leaned in and hugged him, tightly. She stayed that way till he seemed a little better and then she moved back just a bit and took the cloth and wiped his face again, then his neck and then Randy gave her a fresh one, it was cold. Randy finished placing the cold compresses on his leg. Then he squeezed Alden’s shoulder. It was a very brotherly type action. Randy had no idea how he went through that without screaming. But the man needed sleep now. The dose wasn’t enough to put him right out but the soon sudden drop in adrenaline should make his body pass out for an hour or so. Rand leaned in being quiet more out of trying to help him focus on her than their privacy. “I know it’s hard Roman, but even if you can’t breathe with me, focus on me.” She waited till he looked at her, “I love you.”

Rand

The levels of the myoglobin and potassium were still high, but nearly as high as they had been. He was much closer to a safe range. The cold on his leg was jarring, a contrast to how warm the area felt without the compresses. But it did bring some relief. Rand moved from above him to beside him, and at her urging he moved his hand down, resting their joined hands on his chest. In a jolty motion, he put his free arm around her as she leaned in to hug him. He felt Randy squeeze his shoulder and he looked up for a moment and then back to Rand, focusing on her. “I love you, too.” He managed the words through a still tight jaw, but at least he did it. As the adrenaline wore off, he was suddenly tired. Really tired. But he didn’t want to give in and pass out.

~ Roman