Posted by Ensign Rand Farquharson (Yeoman First Class) in side - sim: Head Case

Posted by Commander Roman Alden (First Officer & Chief Science Officer) in side - sim: Head Case

Posted by Ensign Rand Farquharson (Yeoman First Class) in side - sim: Head Case
Posted by… suppressed (5) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)
Roman hugged her closer and nodded slightly. She had known, and if she wasn’t so confused, she’d also know he’d hurt himself carrying her. “Tha, ach tha e ceart gu leòr,” (Yes, but it’s okay). He said quietly. She looked really guilty and he didn’t want that. It wasn’t her fault. He was cleared for light duty only and he could barely lift twenty five pounds without his chest hurting. Strenuous exercise was not happening. Then there was Rand, her concussion meant she had similar restrictions. In fact that was the reason for her visit to sickbay. Kissing was okay, but only that.

~ Roman

Rand’s guilt wasn’t that she thought she had caused his injury, but that she didn’t remember the doctor’s instructions. It was not okay that she didn’t remember something about his health! Elbbirt and Grat had explained that she might have some short term memory difficulty, but sometimes she forgot that too. She hadn’t said anything to Roman or Randy, but she had written it down and put it in her drawer so she would be reminded. Maybe she should make a list?

As much as she might enjoy kissing him, his recovery was more important. She settled down next to him and was quiet for awhile, until suddenly her shoulders shook a little and sniffled…she was crying. “Chan eil e ceart gu leòr. Dè… dè mura h-eil mi a’ fàs nas fheàrr? (It’s not okay. What…what if I don’t get better?)”

Rand

Roman had both his arms around her, holding her in a loose hug with his body pressed against hers. He felt when she started shaking and tightened his hug. “Bidh thu nas fheàrr. Tha e dìreach a ‘toirt ùine,” (You will get better. It just takes time) he said, his voice soft and he hoped reassuring. He knew she would get better. She had to.

~ Roman

Roman sounded certain, but he always did. At least she thought he always did. Rand pressed closer as he hugged her tighter. Her arm slipped around him and her hand fisting in his shirt. She cried, for awhile, even sobbing softly for awhile - fear, uncertainty, the stress of all of it. Some times Rand remembered the cause of the whole horrible situation and other times she just knew something had happened but not what. Randy had told Roman that part of it was the concussion make it hard for her brain to physically work, and the other part was the mind’s way of protecting her from the trauma. That given her anxiety and her heart he was relieved for it, though it made the situation harder for her. There were things he could do to help her, but it was best to wait until she’d recovered from the concussion.

Roman said she just needed time. But how much time before it was decided she wasn’t fit to serve any longer? What if she got better but not enough? What would she do? Go home? Leave Roman and Randy here? She couldn’t imagine being without Roman. She certainly couldn’t go back to acting, even without everything that happened, if she couldn’t remember her lines anymore she was useless as an actress. Or even if she could what if she got confused on stage? Embarrassing, but not as catastrophic if she forgot something or confused something when she was advising Rogers and created a diplomatic incident. She had to get better.

Eventually she quieted because all that crying made her head hurt than because she felt better.

Rand

Roman had no idea what he would do if she had to go home, but that wasn’t something that has crossed his mind. He was hugging her tightly to him while she cried, having no idea what to say to make her feel better. So he held her tight, one hand rubbing her back gently, until she started to quiet. Then he said, “Why don’t we get some sleep? Maybe that will help make you feel better…” He hoped it would.

~ Roman

The motion of his hand on her back felt good. She remembered him doing that before. She’d been having a panic attack, it was just rhythmic and calming. It was easy to concentrate on the warmth and movement and breath with it. She wanted to get better, but how as she supposed to do that when she was fine one moment but confused the next. It was a problem she couldn’t seem to figure out at the moment. She nodded her head carefully and wiggled around a bit to get comfortable and letting herself relax with the movement of his hand. She felt like all she did was sleep lately, but then she was always tired. It didn’t take long for her to fall asleep, and the one good thing about the concussion and temporary amnesia was that she wasn’t dreaming about what happened so she slept soundly.

Rand

It took Roman longer to fall asleep. Stress made it hard to fall asleep and stress caused nightmares. He hadn’t been sleeping well since she was attacked. He had duty again the next day and he wasn’t sure he wanted to leave her alone. If she wandered off again and got hurt because he wasn’t there… But he was also the ship XO and he’d already been off duty a long time. He wasn’t sure what to do.

~ Roman

Rand woke slowly, floating in the warm fuzziness and for the moment nothing hurt. She tightened her arms around Roman, staying curled up close. For the moment she didn’t feel confused or worried. The skin on her hands and arms felt tight and stiff when she flexed them. She rotated her arm slightly as she opened her eyes and looked at her arm. They were scarred....she’d been burned. She remembered that, but she didn’t remember how it happened. She settled back down, she didn’t know what time it was, but she wasn’t in a hurry to get up. She didn’t have a duty shift yet. She hadn’t been cleared. She knew Roman had to report for duty, but for now she was enjoying the moment. She didn’t realize he was considering staying with her. If she did, she would tell him no. She had to manage on her own somehow.

Rand

Roman was already awake. When he felt her hug him a little bit, he tightened his arms around her too. “Morning,” he said, and then gave her a quick kiss on her forehead. He hadn’t decided what to do, he couldn’t leave her alone, but he also couldn’t abandon his duties for her, he didn’t want to make a reason to transfer one of them. He could at least spend the morning with her. It wasn’t quite time for him to get up yet which meant there was plenty of time before he needed to be in the lab. So he stretched but kept his arms around her and lay quietly for a minute.

~ Roman

She tested it, English, in her head. She understood just fine. At least that wasn’t hard, but her brain didn’t automatically respond in English. She had to remind me herself. Sometimes that was it, just a reminder, other times she couldn’t get her head to make the translation. That morning it was easy. “Good morning.” Her voice was muffled against his chest, so it was hard to tell if her voice was slurred or not. It was always a little slurred when trying to translate, but everything she said got extremely slurred when she was tired. Which was a lot since the explosion.

She rested quietly for several minutes until she rolled back just a bit to look up at him. It was a mixture of that ‘you make me feel better’ look and the one where he knew she was thinking about kissing him. She remembered what he said the night before and what Grat had told them both when he released her from Sickbay. So, even though she was thinking about it, she didn’t kiss him. The words came easier this morning even though she still had to focus. “I L..L..love you, Roman....I’m s..s..sorry I ma…de you worry.”

Rand

Roman almost wished she would kiss him. As long as his heart rate didn’t stay up, kissing was fine. “I love you, too. There’s nothing to be sorry for.” He said, hugging her tighter again. He wished he could lay there with her forever. He checked the time. A few more minutes would be fine. He could keep holding her a few more minutes before he needed to get up.

~ Roman