Posted by Ensign Rand Farquharson (Yeoman First Class) in Side sim: Matters of the Heart

Posted by Commander Roman Alden (First Officer & Chief Science Officer) in Side sim: Matters of the Heart

Posted by Ensign Rand Farquharson (Yeoman First Class) in Side sim: Matters of the Heart
Posted by… suppressed (7) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)
The numbers for engineering added up, and the only questionable file was LaCroix’s. Kovan and SCPO Johansson had been aboard a long time. The CE, Lieutenant Riss Ch’ethyniq, however was new, and had just replaced the previous CE. However, it would be hard to fake a higher rank’s papers and under more scrutiny, so it was unlikely the new CE had anything to do with it.

Crewman Murphy, En. Gom, Jilva, Ginna, and Ayden all checked out as well. LaCroix was still suspect, but a photo that didn’t match wasn’t enough. She checked all room assignments and duty shifts as well. Rand went back and checked that information for science and security and support crew as well.

The duty shifts checked out. Whoever it was, they were careful. They’d set everything up carefully, done their homework. They were too careful to go working when they didn’t have duty. They made sure they were assigned a room. How there were no numbers mismatched, yet the Sentinel roster sat at 121, was the mystery of the day.

Grat and Temple left, replaced by Elbbirt and Shrine. Rand was grateful for their presence and familiarity. Randy left a few times, once for food, another to go feed Pipkin for her, and for a brief nap, but he finally gave up sleeping and returned to sit with her.

Rand

Just like before, he seemed to react to her touch and her voice. Like it relaxed him in a way, despite his still being asleep. Late in the night his blood pressure started to go up, a sign that his heart was healing. And that hopefully before long it would be healthy enough to let him wake up. Keeping people completely stationary, asleep, for too long wasn’t good for them, but in his case, especially with his Sickbay issues it was a balancing act between when his heart was healthy enough and keeping him asleep longer than they needed to.

~ Roman

Randy tried to get her to go to sleep, at least a little, but Rand refused. She stopped working, and sat her head near his pillow, reciting parts and monologues and literature just to talk to him. Punctuated by telling him she loved him, that he had to wake up.

Roman was still responding to her voice, almost as if, as Randy suggested earlier, he could hear her. But he slept on, still kept under by sedative medication.

She enlisted Randy’s help to start working on the medical staff. It was the last department, and Rand wasn’t sure what she would do if she still didn’t know when she finished this group.

Rand

Lieutenant Haadok was clean, of course. Doctor Yarwood and Doctor Howells as well. Doctors Elbbirt and Grat, Nurses Shrine and Temple were on the medical list, as well as Doctor Sovak, the doctor that handled Roman’s PT after his leg. Doctors Machesky and Byrd, the lab techs Miller and Jarillo, and the nurse Eber were on her list, but all checked out both identitywise and their duty roster and room assignments. It seemed Medical was clean, and their only real suspect was LaCroix, who they had no evidence against.

~ Roman

Rand was frustrated, there was an error in the ship’s paperwork and she couldn’t find it. She was going to start all over again, but Randy took her PaDD. She got an exhausting 5 minute lecture from Elbbirt about taking care of herself and Shrine brought in a pillow and blankets where the three made her lay down on an empty biobed in the room. Randy stretched out in a chair, pillow behind his head against the wall. He assured Shrine it was more comfortable than other hospital rooms he’d slept in. Shrine and Elbbirt took turns in the room watching Alden, and a guard was always outside the door. Rand slept heavily, grief and fear draining and exhausting.

Rand

At some point late in the night, Alden’s monitor began to beep, warning that his heart began to race again, his breaths becoming shallower to match. He gave a little, unconscious half-groan in between shorter, rapid breaths. Thankfully, an extra dose of the medication to stabilize his heart brought his heart rate down. Some of the other crew from the ship stopped by periodically to ask how he he was doing, their questions answered by medical staff outside his room in order to keep extra people away from him in the interest of security.

~ Roman

Randy woke with a start when the monitor began to beep, “Rand?” No not Rand, Roman. Randy dropped the blanket into the chair as he got up. Elbbirt was already giving Roman the medication and it had an immediate effect. He glanced at Rand who stirred some, waking up at the extra activity in the room. He made her lay back down, nothing was wrong, she had another hour and a half before she had to start for the day.

Elbbirt needed to step out and since Randy was awake he took the opportunity. Randy set a hand on Roman’s shoulder and leaned in. “Hey English, Rand is okay. She’s sort of sleeping a t the moment. The ship is okay, too. You, my friend, are not, but you’re going to be because you are too stubborn not to be. You’re supposed to marry my sister and be my brother. So you gotta fight so you can wake up and do that.” He squeezed Roman’s shoulder again and then sat back down in his chair until Elbbirt returned a few minutes later.

Rand watched from her bed and wasn’t sure if Randy’s words made her smile or made her sad.

Randy

There was, of course, no answer to his words besides a similar slight reaction to when Rand touched or spoke to him. With the medication helping his heart, his breathing returned to normal. For the next several hours he would be okay, the extra medication helping keep things stable. Hopefully after that, he would continue to improve on his own.

~ Roman

Shrine came in around 0515 with a tray for Rand and Randy. “I’m not hungry, Randy.”

Randy set hands to waist cocked his hip and gave her that sassy arrogant look that never, even now, failed to make her smile. “Girl I don’t care if you’re hungry or not. You are going to eat. Gorshin made your favorite and it would be rude to not eat it. And…you are supposed to take care of yourself so he doesn’t worry about you while he gets better. So eat. Pick up your fork and start shoveling food like haven’t eaten in 10 years.”

Rand ate, she wasn’t happy about it at first, but once she started eating she was hungry. Randy left her alone, with just Shrine in the room, with Roman while he returned the trays. She sat down next to him, holding onto his fore arm while Shrine used the burn unit to heal his hands. She talked to him, mostly stories, she wasn’t sure if she should tell him about the machine and the investigation. So she talked about mostly nothing.

They also changed his bandages, both for his hands and his chest. The burns on his hands were looking a little better after two sessions with the regenerator, but they still needed to be covered and protected.

Randy came back with a covered tray. “Rogers’ breakfast. Take it. It will keep. Go get a shower and clean up. You don’t want to see the captain looking like that.” Randy waved a hand that encompassed all.of her. Wrinkled and twisted uniform, hair a mess, splotchy face. “Don’t worry, I’m staying with him. NE Richards is waiting to escort you, and Roman has his own security team.”

Rand left, reluctantly, after kissing Roman on the check and whispering something to him. She showered, cleaned up, fed Pipkin, and took Rogers her breakfast. All with her shadow. Then she went to find Franks and find out about the animals. Then as if everyone knew, all the reports arrived electronically and Rand was able to work from her PaDD in Roman’s room from sickbay.

Rand

There weren’t any problems while she was gone or while she did her usual work from her PaDD. Roman seemed to be doing better. Whenever she had to go out of Sickbay to do something, she was getting a lot of questions about what happened, if he was okay, or how he was doing. Most of the ship didn’t know about the threat or any of that, but Rand and Roman’s security details had begun to attract the crew’s attention that something was wrong. Not to mention the closing off of the biology lab.

~ Roman

Rand only shook her head to the questions. She felt like she was in the middle of a media mob. Her uniform acted as a reminder of where she was and what her job was that kept her focused. It was her security escort who kept everyone at arms length that stopped full blown panic. Except for the fact it was her escort that made everyone stop and ask her questions. She didn’t know what to tell them other than there was a lab accident and the doctors were caring for him. He was their XO after all. They should be told something.

Sometimes they let her alone at that, sometimes they pushed, “Well what happened? What kind of accident?” Or “Any idea when he’ll be back?” Most of them who knew they were engaged would follow up with “How are you doing?”

Rand told Roman everything she was able to get out of Franks about the animals, she told him that Pipkin was mad at being in her cage all day, but was still playing with her toys. She read him the science reports and his XO reports. She left when she had to and came back as soon as she could. At lunch Randy left to get some sleep. Rand wasn’t needed anywhere else for awhile.

Rand

Near the end of the day while Rand was there, the doctor came in and took multiple scans of Roman’s chest and heart. There had been no more major incidents since the one in the early morning, and it was time to see how things were doing. Once the scans were taken, he left for a little while to look at them, and then came back and spoke to Rand, “His heart is looking better. It’s far from healed, but it seems to be reliably keeping his blood pumping adequately and his blood pressure in a good range. He’ll need more sessions on the bone fuser for his ribs, and…” he looked at Roman’s medical records and chart, “two more sessions for the burns on his hands, assuming they keep healing as well as they have been.” He thought a moment and then nodded to himself and went on, “I think it would be safe to start waking him tomorrow morning. Or if you’d rather wait, we can wait another day or two, to be extra cautious. But the decision is yours.”

~ Roman | NE Doctor

Rand nodded numbly. She didn’t know what to decide. Certainly she couldn’t decide until she talked to Randy. He might be a nurse and not a doctor but he could explain the options to her. And knew Roman better than the doctors anyway. “What about the Chloromide for his heart?”

Grat shook his head, “We’ll keep him on that until after he’s awake and stable, for the extra support.” Rand watched as Temple set up the Burn kit for Roman’s hands. So one more after that. That would be done before they let him wake up, but his ribs would take longer. He wasn’t going to like having the sessions he was really not going to like having the Chloromide. “Is he still on the Terakine?” He really would not like the pain meds.

Grat nodded, “Oh yes. Even with today’s advanced medicine heart surgery is no walk in the park. He’ll stay on it until we know the pain won’t make his heart strain.” Rand nodded, it was why they had kept her on a mild sedative for so long.

She talked to Randy and he told her that keeping a patient sedated for too long was bad. If it was too much for his heart they would do it, like they did for her, but completely under was bad. At the same time Randy knew Roman’s mental state when it came to sickbay. And he wouldn’t be allowed to leave. He would have to stay. They couldn’t monitor him in his quarters for this.

Rand had a lot to think about on her rounds. The distraction and focus she needed to run her reports was welcome, but Redshirt Ward’s presence was a sickly reminder of it all. After her meeting she returned to their quarters for a little while. Ward went in with her, checking the whole area before leaving her to her privacy. Poor Pipkin had been left alone and in her cage. Rand loved on her for a little bit, muttering and weighing options to the small bunny who did not understand.

Temple had brought dinner for her in sickbay and it was waiting when Rand returned. She talked to Randy at length over and over again about what she should do. It finally ended when she had a full blown panic attack. Randy made her sit on the floor, knees drawn up, head between her knees and breath, until the dizziness and nausea passed.

That was not at all what Roman wanted when he made her his medical contact. And when or if he found out it had caused her a panic attack, he would feel awful.

She sat by his bed and talked to him long after Randy had dozed off. “I don’t know what to do, Roman. I don’t know if you’d rather sleep through it or be awake through it. What if it’s too soon? What if staying asleep causes complications? What if I make the wrong choice either way and something horrible happens to you?” Rand would not be the first person to battle with such a choice, nor the first to talk to the patient in question when they couldn’t answer. She certainly wouldn’t be the last. “I just want you to wake up and be okay.”

Roman had freaked out over how long he’d been out after surgery on his leg - and that had not been as long. He’d been out a half day, a day most then. This time, by the next morning he’d have been out two and a half days. Of course, he had also freaked out over the pain meds, Sickbay, and any other treatments Elbbirt had wanted for his leg. Either way, he was probably going to freak out a little.

She badgered Grat all evening and Elbbirt all night with endless questions and what ifs. In the morning Elbbirt started weaning him off the sedatives and letting him wake up. But not until Rand was back from her rounds.

Rand

It took time for the sedatives to wear off enough for him to start waking up. Randy was under strict orders to call Elbbirt once Roman started waking so the doctor could be on standby in case anything started to go wrong. He’d started weaning the sedatives just a little before Rand got back, just so Roman would wake up sooner after she got back to him. But she still had to wait a couple hours.

The first sign he was coming out of it was a slight increase to his heart rate. Then he started to stir.

Roman wasn’t sure what was going on or where he was. He could hear Rand’s voice in his ear - soothing, but worried and stressed. Did something happen? Roman tried to remember. The last he recalled was being in the biology lab… He didn’t remember going to bed. So why was he sleeping? He was tired enough he couldn’t quite make out what Rand was saying. Just that she was talking. There was other background noise, too. Were they not in their quarters? Why would he be sleeping somewhere other than there? He wasn’t a drinker, he’d been eating better lately, so there wasn’t a reason he’d have passed out.

Finally he popped his eyes open and he realized what all that background noise had been - the beeping of a biobed, the typical sounds of Sickbay. Why the hell was he in Sickbay? What was wrong with him? Had something happened to him? Now more desperately he tried to remember. But all he recalled was doing his normal work. Suddenly he wasn’t hearing Rand anymore though she still spoke to him. Cold panic squeezed his chest, making it feel tight and difficult to breathe. His heart rate started to climb. In a way, this was far scarier than three years ago, or than when he woke up from his leg, because those times, he could at least recall why he was there.

This time he had no idea. His chest felt sore - not badly but definitely sore. Each breath caused a bit of soreness. Was he hurt? What would have hurt him? The panic in his chest worsened. He felt like he was lifting elephants breathing because of the tightness. He was starting to feel lightheaded. He had to get out of here. Whatever was wrong he could rest in his quarters. So he tried to sit up so he could get out of bed… And he quickly grunted in pain and dropped back to the mattress, lifting a hand to his chest. The soreness was familiar - something was wrong with his ribs. Broken or bruised he wasn’t sure but yes, he’d been hurt somehow, definitely. He remembered how it felt from three years ago, though that time, it had been the other side of his chest. There was other pain in his chest too, but Roman assumed it had to do with the ribs. It wasn’t too bad anyway, thanks to the pain medication Roman did not know about yet.

And that was when he realized his hands were bandaged. Not the heavy bandages they’d been in just after it had happened, but lightly bandaged to protect new and still healing skin. And when he brushed his fingers against his chest, he felt bandaging there, too. Not too surprising, after realizing his ribs were hurt somehow. Still struggling to breathe against panic he wasn’t accustomed to feeling (was this how Rand felt?) he looked around, lifting his head without moving his body so much. He was in a room by himself - at least, there were no other patients. Rand was sitting by his bed, looking tired and worried. And Randy was there as well. Then there was Elbbirt. At least it was a doctor he was familiar with. Finally he took a half-breath to avoid causing more soreness in his ribs and said, in a somewhat husky voice, “Miranda…? What happened?”

~ Roman