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 Commander Roman Alden (First Officer & Chief Science Officer) in Side sim: Matters of the Heart
Posted by… suppressed (2) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)
“Then I should’ve been there,” Roman insisted and then shook his head. “I just hope she’s okay. I don’t know what I’d do if-” he cut himself off and looked up at Randy. “Sorry. I’m sure you feel the same.”

Randy shook his head, “Don’t apologize. I get it.” Randy looked at the monitors again. “I think she’ll be okay. She was clear of the smoke so she doesn’t need oxygen or cardiac support. The burns weren’t deep. With the nerve block her vitals have dropped to resting since she’s not in pain at the moment. The worse is the concussion. She’ll be awhile recovering from that. There was swelling but no bleeding, so that’s good.”

Morgan was mostly okay, she had burns along her arms from trying to protect Rand, now treated and bandaged. She was still shaken but seemed a lot better than earlier and when she saw Randy, she asked him how Rand was doing.

Randy told Morgan what he knew and stayed with her awhile. She wouldn’t have to stay in sickbay, but she had hit the door jam pretty hard and they wanted to make sure once the shock wore off she would be okay. Randy stayed with her, getting reports from Temple every so often.

Temple turned the machine off and moved it to the other side of the room. Going into a cabinet she pulled out several bandages and returned. “She’ll be alright Cmdr. The burns aren’t deep. They’ll blister some, but the regenerator will keep that short. The biggest risk is infection, which is why Grat has already given her a round of anti-biotics and we’ll keep the burns wrapped till their healed.” She pointed to the infusion unit. “Being fully hydrated will help her skin heal faster, even with the regenerator and it will also help with the swelling where she hit her head. Grat gave her an anti-inflammatory for that as well.” While she talked she carefully wrapped Rand’s hands and arms. “Oh…umm…I…I cleaned it up.” She reached into her pocket and took out a small wrapped object and handed it to him. Rand’s ring. Temple had had to take it off so they could treat her hands. “It doesn’t look like it was damaged at all.” Before she started on her stomach she went back to the cabinet and returned with an ice pack and handed it to him. “It will help the swelling if you can hold it against the bump.” She finished wrapping the burns, straightened the gown and pulled a blanket up and over her. “If you think she’s waking up, or hurting or anything is wrong, just press the button. I’ll be right outside.......Talk to her Cmdr, it helps.”

Rand

Roman took the ring, holding back tears, and checked it over. It looked undamaged. He pocketed it so he could give it back to her when she woke up. “Thank you.” He took the ice pack and pressed it gently against the bump on her head, like she had for him when he’d fainted and gotten a concussion. His other hand was gently on her shoulder, away from the burns on her arms and hands.

Then he looked up at Temple, as if confused. “Talk to her?” She wasn’t conscious, she couldn’t hear. Scientifically Roman knew that to be true, that while technically physically her ears would pick up sound, it would be no different than talking to a sleeping person. Her brain wasn’t processing sounds, not at the level required to understand speech. So talking to her seemed embarrassingly pointless and illogical to him.

~ Roman

Temple was one of those older, seen it all nurses, who was incredibly compassionate, kind, and took no crap from anyone. “Yes, talk. She may be too far asleep to understand the words, but the tone and timbre of your voice will be familiar. The sound of the machines, the colder temperature, the smell of the antiseptic are all unfamiliar, and knowing her medical history, are probably frightening. I imagine, since she’s going to marry you, you’re voice is familiar and reassuring. If she has a favorite music or video she likes to watch we can play the audio for her.” Temple didn’t say it, but these were all things that Rand had done for him. The girl did anything and everything she could. Some helpful, some only helpful for Rand.

Rand

The only video Roman could think of was Pride and Prejudice. “And say what?” For him, it had been like he was in the lab, working one minute, and then waking up in Sickbay the next. He’d only found out later that there was five days in between those two events. How could it matter what was said to him in between if he didn’t remember it or even have any concept of how long it had been? He wasn’t trying to be rude, that would be obvious from his tone, but he clearly didn’t understand.

~ Roman

Temple shrugged gently, “It doesn’t matter. She read you reports from the different labs. At least that’s what she was doing when anyone was in the room. It is more about making sure she hears something familiar. It doesn’t matter what you say.” She headed out the door, “Let me know if you need anything.”

Rand

Roman looked back at Rand when Temple said she read him his lab reports. He could picture her there, sitting by his bed while he slept, reports in hand, reading them off like she had when he was in Sickbay for his leg and couldn’t focus very well. He sat quietly for a while, his hand still behind her head, holding the ice pack to the bump and his other gently rubbing her shoulder. Finally he said, “I love you, Miranda.” And then he started telling her all about all the animals he could think of, that he’d had, that he’d seen before or studied. It was something she loved to hear about, she loved animals as much as he did. More, even.

~ Roman

Rand seemed to relax as he started to talk. Not so stiff, though she couldn’t move really with the nerve block. Grat was in every hour to check on her, Temple more than that. Temple left Alden a timer to use for the ice packs. 20 minutes on, 20 off. Right at the shift change Grat and Elbbirt came in. Elbbirt looked devastated. There had been another session for her burns (it would take a few days) and more meds administered. There was good news though, “The swelling is going down, so she should start waking up soon.” Elbbirt put it to both Alden and Randy. “It’s up to you if you want to keep her on the nerve block. It’s pretty extensive because of where the one for her abdomen was placed. She’ll feel paralyzed when she wakes up from her diaphragm down and her elbows down on each arm. The sessions have already healed a lot, but there is no way to know if the anti-inflammatory will be enough until after she wakes up.”

Rand

Roman kept talking to her, anything he could think of. It felt weird to him, but it did seem to be helping, so he did it. He was diligently using the timer to keep her head iced properly. He couldn’t imagine five days of this. He was overjoyed to hear she should start waking up. When the question of whether to remove the nerve block was brought up, Roman frowned. It had been really disorienting for him to just have his leg numbed that way, and they had made sure to warn him first. He looked at Randy, “I think she’d hate it.” He didn’t want her to be in pain, he knew how much burns could hurt, but they were already partially healed, and he was afraid she’d feel paralyzed and panic.

~ Roman

Randy considered. “I suppose if the K3 indicator gets too high we can always…no she can’t have pain killers like that. Not with the concussion.” Randy considered. Pain or the feeling of being paralyzed. She wouldn’t be, but with the severity of the concussion she might be too confused to understand. The strain…”I think Alden’s right. We should remove the nerve block.” Randy appreciated Roman making him part of the discussion, and though he was on Rand’s medical file, it was Roman’s decision now.

“Alright, Cmdr if you would make sure her head stays still.” Shrine helped to roll Rand to her back and after a few minutes Elbbirt had removed the nerve block. Her states went up as her body started to register sensation and pain again and she moaned quietly her hands jerking. Elbbirt gave her a slightly higher dose of the anti-inflammatory and paired it with an NSAID. Then things seemed to level off. Randy didn’t stay. He’d promised to walk Tracy back to her quarters when they let her leave.

Rand didn’t feel good, but she wasn’t sure what was wrong. Her stomach hurt, but not like she’d eaten something bad or when she was having an anxiety attack. She was having a hard time moving, getting her limbs to respond or even her eyes to open. Was she sedated? Why?! What happened?! Her heart rate began to increase.

Her head hurt, throbbing really and her heart was racing. Her hands twitched and they hurt, a small moan escaped. she could hear the monitors in sickbay. Why was she in sickbay? “Roman…” Rand forced her eyes open and immediately closed them as the world spun and her head began to pound in earnest and something else was wrong, but she couldn’t focus enough to figure it out.

Rand