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 (3) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)
“When will I be?” Roman wouldn’t think anytime soon. “With any luck, they’ll have caught whoever’s responsible by then.” Roman pressed an arm back over his chest, it was hurting again. Then he reached for the controls and lowered the head of the bed some. “And I won’t have to worry about you two leaving to do your jobs, that you might not come back.”

~ Roman

Randy looked at his chart then at the read outs. “I would hope less than a week. We’ll get you up and moving around the room tonight maybe, if Grat is satisfied with your cardiac read outs. But as Rand said, when she got up it changes your heart rate and blood pressure. You can black out, dizzy, or your BP could drop and you faint, or beat so fast that other things happen. So how fast you progress depends on what your heart does when you start moving around. Just a warning. Once we start weaning you off the cardiac meds, you might feel frustrated like you are losing progress as your heart starts working on its own. You won’t be, but just be prepared for it.”

Rand

Roman nodded. “Then let’s hope for tonight and that it goes well.” He squeezed Rand’s hand again as he said it. The better it went, the sooner he would be out of Sickbay, he hoped. Then he yawned and blinked, trying to keep his eyes open. Now that he was relaxing again, he was feeling tired. “And that means I get to leave in a little over a week?”

~ Roman

Randy nodded, “If all goes well, that’s the current plan.” Randy stood up and walked over to the door and stuck his head out. Then he walked over to the bed. “Alright, we’re going to try this session, while your heart stats are steady. I have to lay the bed back just a tad lower, you’ll still be mostly up. Once it starts, we can’t turn it off, but we don’t have to do it again.” He moved a chair over, “Rand you sit here, and tell us one of those crazy animal stories of yours.” Grat came in and it only took a minute to set the machine up. It was already in the room and no one touched it but those allowed in the room. To make sure no one sabotaged it too.

Roman nodded and let him put the bed down a little further. Once Rand was sitting next to him in the chair, he reached out for her hand and squeezed it while Grat set everything up.

True to Rand’s prediction, there was enough pain killer and other meds in his system, physically Roman didn’t feel a thing. She talked the whole time, telling all kinds of stories about herself as child. She even snuck one in about Randy and Arvin and Randy’s first attempt at asking a girl out.

Rand

Roman tensed as they started it, as if expecting pain, but he was so numbed up by all the meds he never felt it. He tried to focus on her voice. She was telling him stories again, telling him about a younger Rand and Randy in Scotland. He closed his eyes, trying to pretend they were in their quarters rather than sickbay. But he could still hear the sound of the bone fuser running, the beeping of the monitors and it had the opposite effect. Instead of calming him suddenly he felt like he was back on the Ardent, in that Sickbay. He started breathing faster, his heart rate going up, and he opened his eyes and squeezed Rand’s hand again, reminding himself he wasn’t there anymore, this was different.

~ Roman

The machines started beeping indicating the increase in his breathing and heart rate. Randy reached over and turned the sound off. Just for now. They were all there and were watching the readings anyway, they didn’t need the alarm to alert them. Randy hoped turning it off helped ease some of the stress. Rand kept talking, switching back to Gaelic to give him something else to think about and she squeezed his hand in rhythm to help him breathe.

Rand switched to Gaelic to give him something to focus on but he was too distracted, some of the words lost on him. But it was still helpful to hear her voice. He was trying to breathe with her, focusing on the pressure on his hand.

When it was over, and Grat had left, Rand pulled the computer console over and messed with it for a few minutes. “I know it’s not quite the same, but…” on the screen were the security cameras for the biology lab. Specifically the ones that were focused on the animals. “You can pull up the feed for the last few days as well. And I have all the reports from Franks too whenever you want them.”

Rand

Finally, it was done and Grat left. Roman laid the bed down a little bit more as Rand fiddled with the computer console. Then she turned it towards him, it was the lab feeds, so he could at least see his animals. His face brightened immediately. “I’ll take them now but I probably won’t read them until later.” Then he looked up at her, she usually stacked him up with things to do when she had to go. “You’re not leaving, are you?”

~ Roman

“No.” She smiled and kissed his cheek. “My regular lunch activities are on hold for the moment. I have rounds later, but even those are…odd. Security and the captain insist I break up my regular routine.” Temple came in carrying two trays. It was lunch. She took Randy’s place so he could have a break, he’d be back in a couple of hours. He needed food and sleep.

Rand

Roman nodded, squeezing her hand. “They’re right. So they can’t predict where you’ll be.” He pulled her closer so he could kiss her and then looked up as Temple came in with lunch trays. As Randy was heading out, he said, “Take a security detail. And be careful.” The idea of Randy wandering around unprotected, alone, and tired, was way too worrying to him. He could make it official later, when Morgan or the Captain came to talk to him.

~ Roman