Posted by Ensign Rand Farquharson (Yeoman First Class) in side - sim: Honoring the Ardent

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

Posted by Ensign Rand Farquharson (Yeoman First Class) in side - sim: Honoring the Ardent
Posted by… suppressed (7) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)
“My work can wait.” He was only using it to avoid sleeping himself after all. He moved over on the bed and pulled up the blanket, holding it up for her to get under. Then he waited for her. “I’ll be right here, all night. Then you can get some sleep.” If he was lucky he would too but he held little hope. And if she did sleep he didn’t want to wake her with a nightmare.

~ Roman

Rand moved over, under the blanket and laid down next to him. She closed her eyes and tried to sleep, but it took a long time. As soon as she would start to fall asleep she would twitch - over tired muscles.

Eventually she fell asleep, tossing and turning frequently. Until she woke suddenly, around 0130, sitting straight up with a gasp. Feeling like she’d been running, flat out, for awhile.

Rand

Roman put his arm over her and did his best to sleep, trying to lie still so Rand would think he was sleeping. He fell asleep, at first, but it did not take long for a nightmare to wake him. He thankfully didn’t sit up like he normally did, so he tried to go back to sleep. He had little luck and he was awake when Rand woke, sitting up. He sat up with her. “What’s wrong?”

~ Roman

Rand drew her knees up, hugging them, and hung her head, breathing heavily. The posture was more indicative of a fetal position, for safety, than an attempt to stop dizziness or hyperventilation. This happened sometimes, she’d have a panic attack in her sleep. She could never remember what she had been dreaming about, if she had been dreaming at all. She wasn’t able to answer his question, only lean against him until she could breathe slower. “It…it happens sometimes. Panic attack while I sleep.”

Rand

Roman hugged her, waiting patiently for her to calm enough to answer. When she did he hugged her tighter. “Will you be okay?” He wasn’t really sure what to do for her except hug her to try and help her relax. He felt responsible in a way, as if causing her to worry about him had caused this. And it probably had, the way she spoke earlier that night… It sounded like she worried a lot about him.

~ Roman

Rand nodded, “I…I think they happen because I’m dreaming about…um…” She placed a hand over her heart and breathed. “…what happened. They…they started after I got out of the hospital.” She would have felt bad if she had woken him, but she was pretty sure she hadn’t, but she did feel bad about worrying him.

Roman wouldn’t have been upset if she had, but it was his nightmare that woke him before her. “But you can’t remember?” Roman asked. That was strange to him, he recalled all of his nightmares. They always woke him and he always remembered which nightmare it was. He put his hand over hers, hugging her tightly with his other arm.

“Some…sometimes I do....memories.” Sometimes she would shiver, like she was cold, when she would wake up like that. Having Roman there seemed to keep that away. “Some times…it’s so bad…when I’ve calmed down I can’t remember anymore…or maybe I just don’t…want to.”

Roman nodded. He quietly wished he didn’t remember his dreams, it wasn’t like he wanted to. But he’d never say that to her. He just kept hugging her, waiting for her to calm down.

Rand did worry about him, but guilt and anxiety over her actions is what kept her up. Now after a couple hours sleep she was aware of that. And that she needed to let it go. That taking care of Roman didn’t mean loosing sleep…or something. Maybe she was still too tired. She rested her head against him and into his hug. After a few minutes, “I think I can lay down now.”

Rand

A few minutes passed quietly and Rand spoke. Roman lay back with her, keeping his arms around her. “Don’t be afraid to wake me if it happens again.” He was a heavy sleeper when he was actually sleeping, he knew. Roman was pretty sure it would even be difficult to wake him from a nightmare, until the nightmare woke him on its own. He might not wake when she did, but he wouldn’t be upset if she woke him when it happened.

~ Roman

Rand settled back, “Okay.” She was just about asleep when it occured to her, “The alarm…it’s my day off.” After that she would sleep until something else woke her.

Rand

Roman turned his own alarm off. The only days off he actually took as days off, were the ones he shared with Rand. Then he tried to go back to sleep next to her. He ended up laying awake, watching time tick by. At 0530 he finally fell back to sleep. He started having another nightmare sometime later, twitching lightly on his sleep.

Rand slept fully, she was never a heavy sleeper though, but exhaustion made her sleep more deeply than normal. Even in her sleep, Rand seemed aware and reached for and held his hand.

It was at 0800 that Pipkin decided she wanted out now. She banged her back feet against the cage wall, rattling it loudly. The noise woke Roman and he sat straight up, sweating and shaking and looking around the room.

~ Roman

The loud bang startled Rand awake. Roman’s sudden movement dropped her unceremoniously onto the mattress where she’d been next to him. She pushed herself up to sitting and looked around. After a moment she hugged Roman, her head on his shoulder and let out the breath she was holding. “It was Pipkin. I’ll let her out.” Rand slid off the bed and walked over to the cage, opened the door and scooped the bunny up. She held her up, nose to nose, “That was rude.” Then she set Pipkin on the floor. Pipkin bounded right over to the bed, up the stool and onto Roman’s lap, being excessively cute, begging forgiveness.

Rand

While Rand got up, Roman stayed sitting on the bed, trying to control his shaky breaths. Then Pipkin was on his lap, giving him the cutest look she could. It took Roman a whole of two seconds before he started petting her, unable to resist her cuteness. The bunny, though she was the cause of his momentary panic, helped to relieve it. He checked the time. He’d slept two and a half hours, maybe one more earlier in the night. He sighed softly. Three-ish hours of poor quality sleep.

~ Roman

Rand sat down next to him as he sighed. She knew that sigh, he hadn’t slept well. Then she looked at the time and was confused why he was still there. He wasn’t going to the lab today?

Roman caught her confused look as she looked at the time. He shrugged and said, “It’s your day off. I always take your days off with you.”

Rand moved slightly and began to rub his shoulders. It seemed to help some, she hoped. Pipkin had hunkered down on Roman’s lap and Rand was sure they wouldn’t get her to move anytime soon. Rand wasn’t sure she felt much better. Her dreams had been filled with the feeling of being chased, flashing lights, and the ground collapsing under her.

Rand

Rand moved behind him and rubbed his shoulders. Though it hadn’t been long since the last time, tension had already built up and it was definitely helping. Pipkin had settled in on his lap, too. He was comfortable, leaned back slightly towards Rand. “Do you want to get breakfast?” Even if he didn’t end up eating much (or anything) they always got breakfast on their days off.

~ Roman