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

(snip)

Roman rubbed her shoulder when she flexed her hand like she was looking for his. It would hurt if he held her hand. He was too stressed to want food, he was only able to make himself take a few bites. But he kept the tray so he could try to make himself eat. He remembered he was supposed to take cardiac meds for at least a month. He nodded to having the bed moved closer.

It only took Shrine a minute or so to power down and disconnect the bed from the monitors. She had to make Alden move himself and the chair so she could move it over. While she was at it she went ahead and changed the sheets and then moved the console tray closer. “Try to rest Cmdr. It won’t help her if you wear yourself out. I can come in and take care of her ice packs so you can sleep.” A genuine offer, but if he was like Rand he probably wouldn’t take it.

Roman stood to help her, taking the chair with him out of the way. He wasn’t going to make her move the bed alone. But when she offered to take over doing Rand’s ice packs he shook his head. “I won’t be able to sleep anyway.” Or if he did, he’d have a nightmare, and he wasn’t letting that happen without her there to wake him.

Rand woke again sometime after that. Her neck was stiff from being in one position so long, but that was nothing compared to the throbbing fire in her head or the strange pain in her hands, arms, and stomach. She cracked her eyes, afraid of the light, but it was still dim. Her vision was blurry still, but her voice was a little clearer. “Roman? Wha…what happen…?”

Rand

When Rand woke, Roman was still right next to her. It was a 20 minutes off time so Roman had his hands free and was examining the still very visible marks left behind by his own electrical burns. The skin was still discoloured, a bright red in some areas, and a darker, blackish colour in others. The skin was no longer smooth but rough with little ridges. The burns didn’t cover his entire palm but a large area of both, from the bottom by the wrist to up by the pinkie and extending all the way over to the thumb on his right, with the upper area by the index and middle fingers untouched. On his left the burn didn’t quite reach his thumb but otherwise was quite similar to the one on the right. He could tell though it would be more faint than it looked now, the scars would be permanent.

As she started to stir his attention was pulled back to her and he put his hand back on her shoulder. “You went up to your office, to do you work, but your console… It was rigged like my lab. Morgan saved you, but the console blew. That’s why your head probably hurts a lot, you have a bad concussion,” he explained gently. “Morgan and Ensign Kovan are still investigating it.”

~ Roman

That didn’t make sense to Rand. She wasn’t in her office, was she? She couldn’t remember being in her office or…she had a brief image of walking down the corridor with Roman, but the harder she tried to remember the more her head hurt. Roman was still talking but her mind couldn’t quite keep up with listening and thinking, even those he was speaking clearly and slowly. She missed the rest except for ‘bad concussion.’ Her heart. When she’d had the stress cardiomyopathy and collapsed, she’d hit her head, but it had only been a mild concussion. Something happened to her heart again, that’s why they had her sedated. They were going to discharge her, send her home with a medical discharge. She squeezed her eyes shut, squeezing out tears, and tried to turn her head toward the ceiling but that just made everything hurt worse. “Bhris mo chridhe a-rithist. (My heart broke again.)” It was slurred but clear enough for Roman to identify ‘heart’ and ‘broke.’

Rand

Roman caught the two words, he had to think about it for a moment, and then it hit him and he shook his head vigorously. “No. Not your heart. Your heart is fine.” Thankfully. “Your heart is fine,” he said again, as if to be sure she heard him. She was still really confused, he could tell. Maybe he should’ve waited to tell her anything. He wished Randy were here. But Randy was still with Morgan. Roman hadn’t realized their relationship was that serious.

~ Roman

She opened her eyes again, to see if he was just saying she was fine to keep her quiet. Her visual point of view was confusing, she was looking straight ahead at him, was she sitting up? It took a long moment before Rand realized Roman was laying next to her turned on his side to look at her. She moved her arm, to reach up for where his hand was on her shoulder. Her shoulder didn’t hurt, but below her elbow all the way to her hands did. It took a lot of mental effort to make her arm move and then let it drop back without hurting herself more. Roman said something happened but she hadn’t heard what he said. She needed to pay more attention. She sighed unable to make her brain work. She stared at his face, though her eyes still weren’t quite dilated right, and her gaze unable to focus. “Tha gaol agam ort (I love you).” Apparently it was easier to think in Gaelic or speak it because her words weren’t quite so slurred.

Rand

Roman took her hand very gently, trying to get her to stop moving so much. It had to hurt to keep moving around like that. It was weird, the way her eyes looked. He knew it was because of the concussion but it still made him worry. It seemed easier for her to speak Gaelic, which made sense to him so he switched to Gaelic as well: “Tha gaol agam ort cuideachd.” (I love you too.) He was trying to speak with as clear pronunciation as he could.

~ Roman