Posted by Commander Roman Alden (First Officer & Chief Science Officer) in side - sim: Honoring the Ardent

(snip)

She grabbed his first aid kit and his hand and slowly and gently rewrapped it. He didn’t resist her, he let her do it. If it were anyone else he would’ve said no, he was sure it would be fine. He smiled when she smiled and when she was finished wrapping his hand he hugged her. “Good.” He held on to her for a few moments and then let her go so she could put the kit away.

~ Roman

Roman’s hugs always made her feel better. Settled her anxiety, chased the chills away, and helped her breathe. She hugged him back. He needed it as much as she did. But it was more than she could stand. She had tried so hard to make things better for him. Not because she’d been attracted to him, but because he needed a friend, not be so isolated. It had turned into much more than that. “I love you,” whispered and muffled where he was hugging her. Then he let her go. She turned for the tea, “It…it’s my fault. The files,” She finished the tea and turned, carefully taking the injured hand, “this, all of it. It’s my fault.” No excuses, Roman hated excuses, and ‘sorry’ just wasn’t enough. Her PaDD beeped, reminding her of the time. “It’s 0600.” He knew that, but it was just a way to say she had to go. She grabbed her PaDD and left. She couldn’t cry, she had to work.

“I love you, too.” She turned for the tea, and Roman had no idea what she was saying was her fault. Until she turned back to him, taking his bandaged hand. He looked confused more than anything, because he was thinking How on earth would this be her fault? Before he could answer, her PaDD beeped and she dropped his hand, grabbed her PaDD, and left. He’d have to talk to her later.

She let herself get absorbed in the routine and the work. Running from place to place, answering questions, putting out fires, reviewing and returning reports for corrections. With her credentials fixed she was able to handle it all from her PaDD while she made her rounds. So when she arrived at the lab at 0700 the department reports for Roman were ready. She set them on his desk along with a refill of tea. She picked up the lab reports and sat at the spare console, like always. It was her fault but she wasn’t going to hide. She might want to, but she wouldn’t do that to Roman. If he decided he didn’t want her around for awhile, she’d adjust accordingly.

Rand

Roman was in his lab by 0700, like always. He didn’t have to wait long before Rand showed up, a refill of tea in hand. He was relieved when she sat at the spare console like she normally did. He smiled at her. He wanted her there. He wanted to talk to her, about what she’d said, but his officers were around, and he knew that would make her uncomfortable. Not to mention they were on duty. It would have to wait. He started going through the reports she’d brought him, sipping at the refilled tea as he did.

~ Roman

Rand returned his smile and then focused on the work. Most days her arrival was paired with a ‘Good morning, Cmdr.’ that she found extremely funny. Spoken like she hadn’t spent the early morning with him. Today she was greatful for the other officers. They certainly couldn’t talk with everyone in there, plus they were on duty. And thanks to that…she sighed with a grin followed by a deep breath to stop herself from blushing…amazing dance on Valentine’s the whole ship knew now. Honestly she was surprised she hadn’t been accosted by Scott about it by now. Though Rand had managed to ‘be busy’.

With the ability to use the computer now, transferring the information from the lab notes to the actual report was easy. Simple copy and paste, add a sentence or two in to make the information flow, but rather easy. The purpose was to create a summary that referred to the actual notes and reports by the officers, not rewrite the whole thing. And then of course there was the spaces that Roman filled in with his own observations/suggestions. The other labs were easy because she didn’t know as much about what was going on there, not like she did in the biology lab. It took a few minutes but after she started on the biology lab she pulled up the previous evenings reports. She looked back and forth and then shook her head. She must have been mistaken. No one else seemed to have noticed the animals behavior to yesterday. Maybe she had imagined it, or they had stopped their interest before the rest of the lab returned? She didn’t look at Roman’s notes of course because he knew what was in them so she didn’t need to give those to him, so she didn’t know he had noticed. She shrugged it off, this was why she was helping and not studying the animals.

She finished and set them on Roman’s desk and collected food from the cabinet and made her way over to Nibbles. She picked something different today. Something Nibbles hadn’t seemed to fond of, but she was hording food more lately rather than eating. She’d made note of it, but didn’t know if it was just an instinct or maybe the food hadn’t been varied enough. She had also made a ball out of straw and grass that she introduced, batting it back and forth with her hand. Nibbles was more active than when Rand had first met her, but still Rand wondered what was missing from her real environment to keep her occupied. Predators Rand knew that was true, Nibbles would spend her days finding safe places to hide, searching for food, and defending herself. Her life was certainly safer on board, but not necessarily healthier, as far as activity went. Pipkin’s blanket had actually brought it to Rand’s attention. She was considering something similar, to allow Nibbles to ‘hunt’ for food rather than be fed. She hadn’t brought it up with anyone yet though.

Rand