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 (4) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)
He’d never, ever wanted her to suffer through nightmares like he did. The way he couldn’t sleep, the way he always woke, scared and shaky in the middle of the night. It was awful, and she didn’t deserve that. He had to catch whoever this was before they did anything to her, or Randy. His plans for tomorrow changed. As soon as morning came, he’d go looking for Ensigns Morgan and Ch’sirhc.

~ Roman

When Rand woke it was to Temple and Grat removing her bandages for another round with the dermal regenerator. Randy was there, but not Roman. She asked Randy where he was and Randy told her he had gone to work in the lab. Randy had no idea that Roman was planning to get involved in the investigation. Rand was quiet while they worked. Roman had said some pretty terrifying things the night before, Rand tried to convince herself it was all a bad dream. She ate when Randy had food brought, and then Randy and Temple got her up to walk a bit and to take care of some more basic needs. Randy practically carried her. Not that she couldn’t walk, but she was that dizzy and lightheaded. She slep for a long time afterwards, but not before she told Randy to make Roman go back to their quarters. He hated it here and he didn’t need to stay. She did remember that much, and that Randy was the only other person who was supposed to know that.

Rand

Roman was gone the entire day. He wasn’t back until 2000, and he had his PaDD and data disks with him, information from the investigation he was going over. He didn’t plan to tell either of them that’s what he was doing. Rand didn’t need to know the specifics and Randy would probably make him leave it alone. He took a seat quietly, in case she was sleeping, and put a hand over hers.

~ Roman

Rand didn’t do much for the day. She wasn’t allowed a book or her PaDD to read because of the concussion. She wasn’t allowed to watch anything on the computer screen due to lights and graphics because of her concussion. She couldn’t get up and walk around the room due to dizziness, lightheadedness, and disorientation because of the concussion. Randy loaded some music for her, but that just made her tired. Every time the door opened for someone to come in she jumped and her heart rate went up. Randy tried to tell her it was fine, but it didn’t help. Randy had to leave a few times, he still had work - patients and counseling sessions, but he never left sickbay. Rand tried to sleep but with them both gone she couldn’t. She ate when Randy brought her food, but anything heavier than yogurt and she got sick. Randy thought it was her nerves because she was getting meds for nausea.

Grat thought she was being stubborn by only speaking Gaelic, until he ran more tests and found the swelling wasn’t going down as much as he would like. Randy was gone during that visit, and as hard as she tried she just couldn’t figure out how to answer all his questions in Standard. She understood him just fine, her brain just couldn’t get her mouth to say the words. Most of the time her brain couldn’t figure out what the words should be. They resumed icing her head every 20 minutes again. That meant that Temple stayed in the room with her since Randy was working. She was allowed to sit up, mostly. Rand wasn’t sure why, there was nothing to look at but the far wall in the dark room and listen to the monitors beep and confirm her fear every time the door opened.

By the time Roman returned Rand was laying down again, tired and dizzy from sitting up so long. Randy was gone, out in the main medical bay. When the door opened she jerked, staring wide eyed at the door to see who was coming in. She rocked her hand gently under his, wishing she could hold his hand despite the bandages. She didn’t try to sit up but she asked about Pipkin, if he’d seen her, was she okay, shouldn’t he stay with her instead, she was probably lonely and confused.

Roman was surprised when she jumped as he came in and the first thing he asked was why she was so scared. He answered each of her question, yes Pipkin was fine and fed, and he’d swapped out her toys so she should be fine.

Rand just shook her head. Maybe he’d think she was just startled because she was half asleep. He didn’t need to worry about her anymore than he already did. She wanted to go home, but Roman said it wasn’t safe to leave the room, but he and Randy were leaving. It couldn’t be that dangerous, could it? If it was they wouldn’t be so reckless as to leave.

Then she asked about Nibbles and Mushu and the lab. She had no interest in the PaDD or data disks he had. Even though he hated paperwork she assumed it was lab reports that he wanted to catch up on.

Rand

Roman hadn’t spent much time in the lab. He had gone and visited them but he’d been more focused on getting caught up on the investigation. He said they were doing okay, that they’d seemed happy to see him. Holding her hand with one hand, he balanced his PaDD with the other, reading Morgan’s notes from the investigation to himself.

~ Roman

Roman’s answers felt short, distracted to her. So she stayed quiet. He had a lot of data disks and was reading his PaDD. She tried to see what it was, but the bright light of the PaDD in the dim room made her eyes and head hurt. She was getting further and further behind the longer she stayed in sickbay. She felt like she’d been in this room for weeks, something about Roman being hurt, but then why was he allowed to leave when she wasn’t? She fell asleep trying to figure that out.

Rand

Roman thought she was quiet because she was distracted. He turned the screen when she tried to look, “Don’t make your head worse.” He knew by now she didn’t remember what was wrong with him, or at least not the details, and he was in no hurry to remind her. She’d only worry about it. Even after she was asleep he kept one hand on hers, juggling the notes with his other hand.

There was a lot there. Though it seemed Morgan hadn’t found much to uncover the identity of the attacker, she had left no stone unturned. Roman read through all of it, and that took most the night. When in the early hours of the morning, he finished reading about what had happened while he had been in Sickbay, he reviewed the background checks to see if there was anything Rand or Morgan might have missed. There were also recordings of Morgan’s interviews.

~ Roman

Randy returned late that evening, after Rand had fallen asleep. The whole situation was starting to get to the crew and affecting their performance. Some more diligent some distracted. Most weren’t aware of why the XO and Cpt Yeoman was targeted. There were speculations about the captain being next. This situation had gone on for far too long. Morgan was becoming obsessive but strained. She wasn’t sleeping, and was taking coffee like it was the blood she needed for her heart to pump. The rest of security was run thin with protection detail and the investigation, same with members of engineering. Randy listened, he could neither confirm nor deny anything people were speculating, but he listened and asked questions and analyzed everything he heard wondering if the assassin had walked into the office to play him.

Nothing in particular would stand out. This assassin wasn’t the type of culprit to interject himself into the investigation. They were more likely to try and seem normal, out of sight and out of mind.

Roman was deep into whatever he was doing, and insisted Randy take the bed. He didn’t think Roman was going to sleep, but really he couldn’t blame him. Who could sleep with all this going on. Randy wasn’t sure if he was glad Rand was too confused to worry about it or if it made him worry about her more because she would be an easier target. He interrupted Roman once. “Grat wants to try and get Rand up and walking tomorrow. Not for long, but rather than just laying in bed all day. Temple tried today, just to help her get cleaned up, it didn’t go too well. Grat really isn’t sure she’ll do well, but he’s hoping getting up at least a little will help her mental health.”

Randy

Roman had… probably more tea than he should that day, since he’d been free to roam the ship he could get his own tea. He had a cup with him now, following Morgan’s suit in sucking it down like it was going out of style. It worried Roman that Rand was still too confused to know what was going on. She didn’t seem to remember the threat at all, and she seemed to barely remember that he’d been hurt. On one hand, he was glad she wasn’t worrying about those things, and on the other, it meant she really wasn’t in good shape. When Randy interrupted him, Roman looked up like he was going to argue, but softened when he heard what Randy had to say. “I’ll be there.” Then he was back nose-in-PaDD on whatever he was doing.

~ Roman

Rand slept until after Roman left. Grat was pleased with his progress and how his heart was doing. He wasn’t on the lowest dose but his dosage was significantly lower. He was pleased to let Cmdr Alden return to duty. It was light study, nothing physically taxing, but he wasn’t overly concerned with that, Alden wasn’t going to be crawling around the engine or doing combat training, and the no bridge duty was still in effect. So that day was Roman’s first back on full duty.

She was cooperative and silent during her regenerator session. Her skin was itching and dry and tender when Temple put the gel on. The gel was soothing but the touch was painful. Temple kept up a constant chatter. Rand was still having trouble translating in her head other than simple words like “yes” and “no,” so she stayed silent. Simply smiling or shaking her head as she was expected to do. She ate when they brought her food, but she was still on the infusion unit. Her intake wasn’t enough to keep her hydrated sufficiently. Not for a lack of trying, but her stomach simply didn’t want anything too substantial.

Randy put on an audio book for her, to relieve the quiet. At lunch she was supposed to get up and walk, she was both eager to get up and exhausted by the thought. Moving too much made her dizzy and faint. Roman didn’t show up on time and Randy was going to page him. Rand refused, “Bidh e ag obair tro lòn. Fàg e, tha e air bhioran a dhol air ais a dh’obair. (He will work through lunch. Leave him be, he’s excited to go back to work.)” How she knew he was on leave from duty and just returning, she didn’t know. She was absolutely convinced he’d been hurt though she didn’t remember how. Randy offered to get her lunch first, but she said she’d rather eat after since her stomach always got upset.

It took long minutes just to get her sitting up and her feet touching the floor. She stood and immediately Randy had her by the waist as her vision went black and the world flashed away. Rand wanted to go back to bed, but they insisted she try to walk the length of the room and back.

Rand