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)

Rand knew the moment the adrenaline wore off and the full force of the meds hit him. His hand relaxed on hers and she had to fight the urge to groan and flex her hand. Then his jaw finally relaxed and his breath got deeper, and he blinked several times trying to keep his eyes open. Randy was only a moment behind Rand in noticing as the machines registered his lower vitals. Everything dropped. Randy stuck his head out the door for Elbbirt who was running Alden’s blood work. Elbbirt wished the levels were safe, but Alden would have to stay on the anti-toxins a bit longer. He was relieved when Randy told him things seemed to be getting better.

Rand took the cold cloth to his face again, and then draped it across his neck. She brushed at the hair at his temples, just trying to be soothing. “How are you feeling now? Is it tolerable?” She didn’t ask if it was better, he probably didn’t know that yet or feel like better was even a word that could be used. Rand wished he would doze off, just for a bit. She could do her next round while he slept and be back before he knew it. Plus sleep would let everything settle.

Tolerable was a good word. His leg still felt like it was being torn to bits, worse than on Kelmao, but much much better than before the meds took effect. The pain was still a lot to handle but it was easier now. His hand relaxed on Rand’s, still a tight grip but not painful anymore. His breathing had grown deeper and more regular and that helped, too. He nodded to answer her question. “Tolerable. Still worse than at the sinkhole,” he said. He still wanted to make it up to his quarters but even with the crutches he wasn’t sure he’d make it all the way up there with this much pain.

The sink hole was bad. Rand knew it was. She still wasn’t sure how they had managed to make it back to the tree line. Survival instinct? Numbness from the cold? Half addled brains? They were lucky.

Elbbirt glanced at the vitals and nodded to himself. “I think we can hold here for the dosage. Unless you think the pain is too much Cmdr. Then I can give you a bit more.”

Rand

Roman shook his head stubbornly. It was tolerable, everything had gone down. He was at the absolute minimum necessary dose. He thought about changing his mind. He almost missed the neuro block. It had been numb and that felt weird but at least it wasn’t like this. But no. He could tolerate it how it was. That’s all he needed. Even with his leg still hurting so much he had to fight to keep his eyes open. Finally he just couldn’t do it any longer. His eyes drifted shut, his breathing evened out and slowed a little more, and he was asleep.

As soon as he was asleep Randy and Elbbirt pried her hand loose from Roman and Randy took her out of the room to take care of it. It wasn’t a pretty sight. “Alden has no idea how tough you are does he?” Rand grinned, “He isn’t exactly a light weight, Randy.” Randy nodded, “He should have passed out long before Elbbirt was done. This is going to be a hard recovery for him, in a lot of ways.” Randy worked quickly, it was mostly some bruising and jammed finger joints. Nothing too bad and nothing requiring medication. Then Rand left. She met up with Franks to feed the animals again and she took half an hour to really observe them and take notes and put effort into it. She helped Franks figure out how to do a full department requisition. Then it was drinks and meals delivered. A check in with the chef about meetings and requests from Rogers, and then she was in her office for a bit going through communications and reports from command and filtering them to the correct departments. Then she headed back to sickbay.

Roman slept for nearly three hours. When he woke up, the pain was unchanged. Still barely tolerable. At least he wasn’t focused on where he was. Careful not to move his leg at all he looked around the room for Rand.

~ Roman

Rand was in her chair, beside the bed, she was holding his hand, but she looked like she might be sleeping. When he moved she opened her eyes and looked at him and sat up. She wasn’t sure what to say or ask so she leaned over and kissed him, and then answered the one question he probably wanted answered, “Almost 3 hours. They haven’t given you anything else except a round of the anti-toxins. Elbbirt thinks that might be the last one.”

Rand

Roman’s hand was in hers and he wondered if she’d been there since he fell asleep. She had looked like she was asleep, and he felt bad for waking her up. He knew she hadn’t had much sleep the night before. She leaned over and kissed him, and then she answered the questions he hadn’t asked yet. Rand always anticipated his questions. There was one she missed though. “How much longer will I have to stay here?” He sounded groggy, it was the effects of the pain meds.

~ Roman

There wasn’t anyone else in the room and Rand sighed slightly, sure that Roman was going to argue but she was going to try anyway. “Well Elbbirt originally said as soon as they established your medication dosage and you were ready to try and get up. But…well…” she squeezed his hand and bit at her lower lip before continuing, “Roman you’re hurting, really hurting, and I’m not sure you should try and use the crutches. If you wait till after my evening rounds, the corridors will be clear, it’s always dead that time of day, and Randy and I can take you with the wheel chair and you don’t have to risk hitting your leg and hurting more. She didn’t think Elbbirt would stop him from using the crutches as long as he could stand up and not get dizzy and pass out. She also wasn’t going to suggest more medication. Now that he could kind of think straight, at least while not moving, she knew he would refuse and it wasn’t an argument she wanted to have with him now.

Rand