Posted by Ensign Rand Farquharson (Yeoman First Class) in Side sim: Valentine’s Day with Roman and Rand

Posted by Commander Roman Alden (First Officer & Chief Science Officer) in Side sim: Valentine’s Day with Roman and Rand
Roman had spent most of the last month preparing for the ship’s Valentine’s dance. He was confident in his skills and he felt less rusty than he had before. And the little practice session with Rand had gone well. Roman wasn’t at all worried for the dance. But he also knew that a social dance wasn’t going to be Rand’s idea of an ideal holiday.

Rand had spent the last month, blissfully unaware. Until four days before the dance. Roman had been cleared for full duty and he reminded her that she agreed to go with him to the dance. And she had and she meant it when she agreed. She just assumed they would make an appearance, together. As XO he had to go, and as yeoman it was her job to make sure everything proceeded with out a snag. She thought it would be nice to be able to go with him. To spend that time with him. It also lessened her anxiety about having to show up. Inevitably someone would try to drag her into ‘socializing’ at the dance. They could assume whatever they wanted about Rand being their with the XO and official business and would leave her be. Cowardly she knew, but knowing she wouldn’t go alone made her feel better. Randy of course would go with her, but she didn’t want to ruin his fun. That night he reminded her several times and she started to get the feeling this was more than just a ‘necessary appearance.’

And so, Roman had been secretly preparing something else for Rand, for Valentines day. The dance started at 1900. That left an hour before the dance, and Roman didn’t expect to spend more than an hour or an hour and a half at the dance, so that left the night after the dance. He had to work, but he finished everything that had to be done that day and set the rest in his stack for tomorrow. Then he left the lab early at 1500, wanting the time to prepare. He’d begged a big favour from the chef (how did Rand do that so easily?) and scored the ingredients for two servings of shepherd’s pie. It was both of their favourite food. He made the dish himself, the way it was made for him when he was young.

Randy had heard all about the deal during a session with Roman. He was complaining about all the PT and extra exercises and let it slip the only reason he was cooperating was that Rand had agreed to go to the dance with him. That had led Randy to appear at Roman’s door, later, out of uniform and talk to Roman about this ‘date.’ Randy thought it was a wonderful idea, but he was worried that Rand would balk suddenly at being in the midst of a party. She hadn’t attended anything like that since she’d turned 18 and ended up in the hospital. Randy was careful not to go into too much clinical detail. Rand was not only his sister but also a patient. But they discussed things for Roman to look for and coping strategies that Randy had helped Rand use in the past. She still used them, but this was different.

I hate them, Roman had said, I wouldn’t be doing them if Rand hadn’t promised to accompany me to the Valentine’s dance, assuming I could dance by then. Randy had seemed more than interested so Roman spilled his plans, and to his delight, Randy thought it was a fantastic idea. But later that night, Randy turned up at Roman’s door, out of uniform, and went over what to look for if Rand started getting too anxious, and ways to help her. It worried Roman, he still wanted her to go with him, but he didn’t want to cause her a bunch of unnecessary stress.

Then Randy goaded and prodded the whole situation out of Rand. “It’s a party, Rand.” She nodded, “I’m aware. We’ll go, make an appearance, I’ll make sure things are running smoothly and we’ll leave. Half hour. I can handle that, Randy. Really. It’s not like I’ll actually be going.” Randy scrubbed his face with two hands. “What are you wearing? And don’t tell me dress gold. You’ll both be off duty and Alden didn’t put in all that PT work to see you in your dress uniform.” Rand blinked at her brother. She had the feeling he was trying to tell her something that should be obvious but she wasn’t getting it. He sighed, “Girl you wouldn’t know a guy’s intentions if wrote it on a report and filed it in triplicate. Good thing I know what you look good in.” They spent the next few hours and at the end there was fabric tossed everywhere in their quarters.

Roman had dressed up, too. Not in his full tux he was going to wear to the dance, but one of his nicest light blue button-ups, a pair of grey slacks, and a nice pair of loafers. He’d redone his hair, neatly combed like always and styled with gel.

Roman set up his quarters, he’d borrowed a foldable table and two chairs, and a dark red tablecloth. He set them up in his quarters like he usually did for their dates. Then he put the tablecloth over the table. He set cushions onto the chairs. It was the best he could do to make them a little fancier. To make it even cheesier, he could only find heart shaped cushions. Hopefully that wouldn’t ruin it.

The hardest to procure were the candles. Technically, he wasn’t supposed to have them due to the risk of fire. But if he only burnt them for a while, while he was directly watching them, it would be fine. There were two. He set them on the table on either side of a small vase of (fake) flowers. It was… very traditionally valentine’s Day. He was nervous, afraid she’d think it was too much, or too cheesy.

He set a small, wrapped box in the drawer of his desk where his computer console was. That had taken some doing to get done, especially without Rand finding out. And he owed a big favour to one of the Engineering ensigns (really, Rand was way better at that than he was) to make it possible. He hoped she’d like it.

Rand was piled high with work. Not only was she doing the job of two yeoman’s on a daily bases (since Randy was no longer the 2nd yeoman) she was also in charge of planning the dance. Normally Rand didn’t mind doing this. She got to plan and decorate and orchestrate and then beg off and avoid the whole thing. But it meant she’d been busy those four days, and the day of was a nightmare. The gym had to be cleared, cleaned and then decorated. And every love sick crew member was there to help. The task was enough to give her a headache, but the gossip was causing something much much worse than a headache. She could feel it, the anxiety attack, sneaking up on her as every person there talked about their plans and who they thought would attend, who had a date, who was hoping to make it a date, etc. Rand avoided telling anyone who she was going with if they asked. She didn’t want to answer questions. That was until Scott showed up. Rand put her to work with streamers…up a ladder, where she was too far away to talk. Then for some unknown reason Valos showed up, and kept asking her weird and awkward questions. Rand found other duties that needed her immediate attention.

So in all the extra work and regular duties Rand forgot to wonder if she was supposed to do anything or get anything for Roman. Valentine’s day made her even more nervous because social convention and rules were out of proportion and changed for this one day. It made no sense to her and she couldn’t keep it straight. Hence why she avoided any activity on this day of the year.

It was 1730 when he was ready for her to show up. He’d asked if she could make it by 1800, but if she was late, that was okay. Her work frequently kept her long. The dinner and gift would be a total surprise (hopefully, anyway, that girl knew EVERYTHING going on the ship, even more so than Ensign Scott), and he awaited her arrival nervously, his chosen dinner in insulated trays to keep it warm until she showed up.

~ Roman

Roman had asked her to stop by at 1800. It was 1745, and she wondered if she should change. It was too early to dress for the dance. Or at least she thought so, but she didn’t want to show up in her uniform. She was finally done ‘officially’. Unofficially was another story but she hoped so. She left her hair in it’s tidy bun, changed into soft buttery soft tan flats, and a lavender dress that fell gently off her shoulders, accentuated her waste and then a nice full skirt that swirled when she walked. Then she hurried to his door and pressed the chime.

Rand

Roman stood from his seat, where he’d been reading on his PaDD to make the time pass, and set the PaDD down by the computer. Then he went to the door and let it open. And Rand was looking very nice in a beautiful lavender dress. Did someone spoil his surprise? He hadn’t asked her to dress up to meet him. It was probably his nervousness talking. He smiled and let her inside. “Miranda, you look lovely. Come, have a seat,” He said, leading her to his set up table, and pulling out her chair as he always did. The meals were still covered, the candles were lit, and he had the quarter’s lights dimmed to help the atmosphere of his little dinner.

~ Roman