Posted by Commander Roman Alden (First Officer & Chief Science Officer) in Side sim: The Problem Family

(snip)

Roman shrugged, “Lot of paperwork today.” He was sitting at the table, in front of his own tray, but it looked like he’d only eaten about a third of it. He hugged her back, tightly, and smiled a little. “Sorry to eat without you.” He’d been there nearly an hour and the food on his tray was getting cold anyway, so he set it aside to make more room for hers. “How about your day? Busy?”

~ Roman

Rand smiled and hugged him a bit longer before moving to her seat. She shrugged. “It was okay, the morning was busy. I did manage a break today though.” She had seen him over lunch. “You should have called me, I would have found time to come help.” If she had known he had so much paperwork she would have skipped that small break.

Roman smiled and shook his head. “I’m glad you got a break instead. You deserve that every once in a while.” He could’ve mentioned how much work there would be when she saw him at lunch, but he hadn’t.

He hadn’t eaten the whole meal, but at least he was eating. Rand started her own meal, but paused after a few bites. She didn’t want to make him upset but she didn’t want to hide the fact she knew. Finally, she grabbed her PaDD and put the disk with the news files on it in and pulled up the article. “Umm…I don’t know if it matters, but…uhh…this was in the news feeds we got today.” She set the PaDD in front of him with the article. She squeezed his hand briefly before dropping hers to her lap, where she concentrated on not ringing them nervously.

Rand

He was trying to eat, to keep up better habits, so he didn’t worry her. He noticed Rand seemed to be thinking about something, and then she pulled out her PaDD. Roman should’ve known it would end up in the news, but the thought hadn’t occured to him and his surprise was obvious when she placed the article in front of him. Then he groaned and cursed, a Gaelic word he’d picked up from Rand and Randy. “Media can’t keep their hands off anything, can they?”

Rand didn’t say anything but she shook her head. Now she understood, when she’d explained about…about her birthday, he had seemed to understand so clearly. He’d lived with their meddling too. Rand didn’t know or know anything about her soon to be in-laws, but she knew they had to be fairly unworthy people if Roman never spoke to or of them. But no one, no matter how bad, deserved to have their death and their loved ones dragged through the media by the paparazzi.

Then his anger faded and he just looked really uncomfortable and upset. He quickly scrolled through the article, mildly relieved his name wasn’t mentioned. He was sure it was in others though. Then he handed her the PaDD back. “I found out three days ago. I… I was going to tell you, but…” He trailed off and shrugged uncomfortably.

~ Roman

Rand turned off the PaDD and set it aside and then reached over and wrapped her hand around his, squeezing gently. “You don’t have to tell me or feel bad or guilty or uncomfortable, or anything for not telling me. I’m here though if you want or need to.” She sighed then looking a little uncomfortable herself. “I…I thought you probably knew…but…I uh…didn’t want to hide it from you that I knew. But also, I didn’t want you to be caught off guard if someone else saw the article and asked about it.” She didn’t think anyone would, Roman was very private and most of the crew knew that, but it was possible they might try to express their condolences to him.

Rand