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 Commander Roman Alden (First Officer & Chief Science Officer) in side - sim: Head Case
Posted by… suppressed (10) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)
By the time Roman woke up again, he was over an hour late for duty. But he didn’t notice that right away. He was too comfortable and happy, and he snuggled a little further into Rand instead of getting up. He stayed there for a few minutes, blissfully thinking it was still early.

Wait. He’d said a few minutes more. What time was it? He sat up and looked at the clock. 0700 he was expecting in the lab… It was 0840?! He’d never been that late! Trying not to wake Rand he rushed into the bathroom, threw on a uniform, and ran a brush quickly through his hair.

Randy was acting yeoman. He needed to find Randy. Why, when Roman was that late had Randy not coming looking for him? Not that it was his job to, but it seemed like something he’d normally do. He first headed across the hall and checked for Randy in Rand’s office.

~ Roman

The door to the office was open, so Randy could hear when Roman came out. Hearing the door open and his quick foot steps he stood from the desk. He held up a hand to stop any protest. “Cmdr. Come in and have a seat.” On the desk was Roman’s tea in a travel mug and his regular toast and egg. Randy allowed the door to close. “I know you are very upset I didn’t wake you. As far as today goes, you and I have been in a meeting all morning going over incident reports for the last month. Command wants more details. You are expected no later than 1000 hours. I was going to get you in another 20 minutes.”

Randy

Roman opened his mouth to protest but Randy was one step ahead of him. On Rand’s desk was his usual breakfast and his tea. He sat down and grabbed the tea, taking a long drink. The fact Randy had covered and Roman wasn’t thought to be late by the rest of the crew, seemed to help calm him. But still when he finally set down the tea, the first thing he said was, “Why didn’t you wake me at 0700?!”

~ Roman

Randy sat back down. “Well I came to check on Rand when you weren’t in the lab. I thought it must be bad if you didn’t comm me, but on the off chance you were just busy and she was sleeping I only knocked once. You were both asleep and didn’t even flinch when I came in, stopped a rabbit escape and left. You needed it. We haven’t really talked about it much, but you haven’t been sleeping well with everything going on.” Randy meant not just Roman’s own nightmares, but Rand’s and the extra work, her concussion, his heart, the exhaustion that makes it hard to sleep. There were a lot of factors. “I decided to let you sleep. You look better this morning for it. And yes I did check the lab schedule and know you had nothing scheduled for this morning. The reports are done, you just have to review and sign.”

Randy

Roman grumbled something about ‘being fine’ and ‘not needing extra sleep’ while munching on the breakfast Randy had ready for him. He looked at Randy when be said he had nothing scheduled. “I had lots of things to do! They don’t have to be scheduled meetings to need doing.” Knowing Roman, those ‘things to do’ were doing his reports, watching his animals, and ‘observing’ things that didn’t actually need him there. “All the reports are done?” That he sounded happy about. Rand and Randy both knew how much he hated paperwork.

~ Roman

It was getting harder for Randy to draw that line between personal and professional. Professionally he knew Roman needed the sleep but it wasn’t his place, unless he used medical orders, to stop Roman from going on duty. He didn’t exactly stop him though, he just didn’t wake him up. On the personal he was worried about Roman and his sister and well, he was being a nosey, bossy big brother. He could say that it was good for Rand and Roman would settle down a bit. She hadn’t paged him yet so that meant she was still asleep. The problem with saying that, though, was Roman would just assume Randy did it for Rand and not for Roman. It would allow Roman to perpetuate the lie in his head that no one cared about him, but Rand. That Randy only helped him because of his sister. That wasn’t true, so Randy didn’t say it. So he shrugged. “Not anything that couldn’t wait an hour or so. You would have been spending that time doing reports anyway. So,” he handed over a PaDD, “look at them, sign them, and then I can file them. Then you can go to the lab, no one the wiser.”

Randy

Roman took the PaDD and went through each of the reports. There were a few he had to send for revision. The rest he signed off on and handed the PaDD back to Randy. Then he took the time to finish the breakfast. He did look, and feel (not that he’d admit it) better than he had in the last few days.

~ Roman

Randy sent back the unacceptable reports, filed the others and then shut down the computer. “All done.” Then he leaned forward, arms folded on the edge of the desk. “I’ve been pushing Rand hard the last couple days and thought she might could use a break, before she never forgives me. I thought I would let her read the lab notes about the animals if that’s alright. I know she has to miss them and it will let her start getting used to using the computer again, a little bit at a time.” Randy wasn’t really worried about Roman’s permission to let Rand use the computer, but he thought it polite to ask Roman about accessing the logs and reports before he let Rand read them. He wouldn’t let her work on the reports, just read them and know what was going on, especially with that little mouse she was so fond of.

Randy

Roman nodded, “She can read whatever she likes. I was going to take her to see them after my shift, anyway.” He stood and picked up the empty breakfast tray. “I’ll take this down. I need to get to work.” He nodded again to Randy, “Thanks for the breakfast. And the meeting.” Then he headed down to the lab for his shift. It was a slower, easy day. With his reports done, he had to finish a little other paperwork, and then he had time to do things he liked more, playing with studying Mushu, changing the water in the goo lizard’s tank, checking on the Chinzillas. They were definitely big enough to be sent away, but Roman hadn’t had the time to get to that, or maybe he just didn’t want to. He also pulled up the letter from the place they’d sent Mr Wyvern, so he’d have it ready for Rand when she came by after his shift.

~ Roman

Randy’s brows rose to disappear into his hair line as Roman left the office. Did he really just thank him? For doing his job? And not in a sarcastic or dismissive manner? (Yes Roman frequently thanked him, genuinely, when it came to Rand, but this......was weird). Randy turned back to the computer, accessing his own files and proceeded to jot down copious notes about Roman’s behavior and the circumstances around it.

Then he made a trip down to see Gorshin for a tray for Rand and then quietly slipped into her quarters in case she was asleep. Randy wasn’t sure if he wanted her to still be asleep or not. He knew she needed it, but if she slept too long, she’d assume the medication was keeping her that way and refuse to take any more of it. Rand was in fact not asleep, but awake and actually dressed in something other than her ‘I don’t feel good clothes’ - in other words she wasn’t in frumpy cotton yoga pants and an old work out sweat shirt. She was in slacks and a emerald green blouse, sitting cross-legged in the middle of the bed. She was using bits of hay and food pellets to entice Pipkin to do tricks while she was telling the little rabbit stories. Specifically stories about Peter the Rabbit. Rand had never been in a production about the naughty rabbit even as a child, but with her voice training and memory, she was an amazing story teller.

She looked better today, her eyes brighter, her voice clearer and stronger, her posture better, and the dark circles very much diminished. Randy stood there just inside the door for a moment, holding the tray, and just listening to her. Pipkin reached up all the way on her back feet to reach the piece of hay Rand was holding up and then fell backwards as she lost her balance. This caused Rand to stop in her recitation and laugh, but scoop the bunny up immediately to make sure she was okay. A goofy grin spreading across his face and a quiet sigh of relief let out on a laugh. “You keep telling that bunny those stories, sister-mine, and you’re going to have a trouble maker on your hands.”

Rand looked up, from where she was nuzzling Pipkin as Randy set the tray down. “Randy! How long have you been standing there?” Randy shrugged and grinned at her. “And Pipkin will never be a trouble maker, she’s too sweet and cute.” Randy thought differently. Rand was sweet and cute and caused all kinds of trouble.

“I’ve brought food, come eat and then I have a treat for you.”

Rand bounded up and made her way over to the table. It was good think Gorshin always made plenty. Apparently good sleep made his sister hungry too.

Randy

Roman went up and visited with them for lunch, a longer visit today, since it seemed less busy than usual. He ate with her before going back down to finish his day.

The end of the day was a little busier and Roman was out of the lab for several hours. At the end of his shift he headed back up to their quarters and sat down with Rand. “I hear Randy let you read the reports.”

~ Roman

Rand’s face lit up. “He did. I’ve missed so much. I haven’t been in the lab since Franks had to close it.” Rand went on for nearly half an hour about everything she’d read and wanting to know what happened with this test and that test, what did they decide after observing that new behavior, did it happen again? It wasn’t in the notes she’d gotten to read. The chinzilla babies were so big and the goo lizard looked bigger too. Was Mushu eating better, did Nibbles ever come out of her den? Randy wouldn’t let her watch all the videos. Said that was too long. (In truth Randy didn’t want Rand to go too far into the videos and see how much Roman had been struggling after he got shot. Rand wasn’t supposed to be told about that.) The questions and comments were endless, especially when she got to Nibbles and Mushu. She really didn’t even give Roman time to answer.

Rand

Roman let her go on and on about stuff. He answered questions when she could, but sometimes there just wasn’t time before she asked the next question. Roman loved when she did that though, he liked how interested she was in his work. When she said Randy wouldn’t let her watch all the videos he looked confused for a moment and then realized why at the last moment - he’d been in most of them, and pretty visibly hurt. And he hadn’t told her yet. She wasn’t so confused, it would probably be safe to tell her, but now it had been so long he just didn’t know how to bring it up. So he kept silent. “Well, videos would’ve been nice, but instead.... Are you ready to go see them?”

~ Roman

Rand hopped up off the bed. She was in fact ready, she had put Pipkin in her cage, and had even changed into jeans and a long sleeve t-shirt in anticipation of him getting off duty. More durable and natural fibers than what she had on earlier and safer for the animals. Her uniform wasn’t an option because she could get in trouble if people thought she was trying to work when she was still strongly on medical leave. She didn’t know if Roman was going to let her actually interact with them, but she wanted to be prepared incase he did. “Tha!” she had ahold of his hand and tugged until he was standing and out the door with her. Instinct or self preservation turned her in the opposite direction of her office. Roman knew that would have taken them to the lift closest to the labs, but maybe Rand was slightly confused, or maybe more likely she was just so excited she wasn’t paying attention. The way she continued to chatter on and on about what she read, and oh yeah! this or that, and what did the letter about Mr Wyvern say?

Rand grabbed his hand and tugged and Roman felt like he was being dragged to his own labs. And, well, that was a first. He liked it though, she was so excited. She took him the long way, which he wondered about for a moment, but decided to just go along with her.

The sound of her voice drew the attention of the techs working in the transporter room. It had been awhile since anyone had heard her moving about or animated that it made them peek out. They didn’t say anything but just grinned and went back to work.

Rand

Rand was chattering on as she sped on towards the lab, still pulling Roman by the hand. He noticed the transporter techs peek out and grin as they passed and he had to wonder whether they were grinning at her enthusiasm, or at the way she was pulling their XO through the halls by the hand. When they reached the lift he smiled at her and shook his head. “I know it’s been a while since you’ve been there, but you can slow down a tad, can’t you?”

~ Roman

Rand’s eyes went wide and the smile slipped from her face for a moment as she wondered what she’d done that she wasn’t supposed to or vice versa, before she realized Roman was teasing her. The grin returned and she shook her head, harder than she should have making the lift spin a bit, “No, I can’t.” She decided to tease him back just a little. “Nibbles is my baby and I haven’t seen her in TWO months. I can’t wait anymore.” No she was not supposed to get attached to the little mouse, and she knew she couldn’t keep her, but she was too excited to worry about all that at the moment. Roman loved Mushu just as much, even if he wouldn’t admit it.

The lift door opened and if Roman hadn’t had a hold of her hand, she would have skipped down the hallway.

Rand

Roman let her drag him all the way to the lab and then let her go and see the animals.

Rand tried, she really really did, not to rush into the lab and over to the cages. She managed almost successfully, but her enthusiasm was hard to miss and every person in the lab grinned and chocked back chuckles as she passed. No one wanted her to feel bad, but her absence had been noticed. Her intention was to see the chinzilla and goo lizard before she made her way to Mushu and Nibbles. But Mushu’s enclosure was by the door and as she passed that tiny little lizard foot touched the glass and that was all the invitation Rand needed to stop and spend the next half and hour with the lizard.

He stood right there with her, just in case, but he did let her interact with them. He had been excited the first time he got to work with them again, and she liked them nearly as much as he did.

She fed Mushu the flying insects and grasshopper like things he liked. He seemed to be showing off for her, because his eyes were dancing about on their stalks and he was stalking them and mostly staying in one spot to catch them. She started giving him one at a time and timing how fast he could catch them. Then she started playing with the toy fly that Scott had made for him. Mushu actually reached up and touched her hand, something he had never done before. Rand bit her lip to stop from acting so surprised and glanced over at Roman with a grin, knowing he would understand how she felt.

Roman always stopped at Mushu’s enclosure first. He loved when the lizard put a little foot on the glass and looked up at him, but today it wasn’t him Mushu was looking at. He was looking at Rand. When the lizard put a foot on Rand’s hand, Roman smiled. It was cute. Usually the only person Mushu would touch was Roman.

After a few more minutes she passed by the goo-lizard, it was asleep, and went and saw the chinzilla and tried not to gush over how big the babies had grown in the weeks since…since she’d been there. She jotted down lots of observations and then pointed at one of the smaller females. She had a cut along her shoulder that looked really bad. (She hadn’t gotten far in the notes and didn’t realize they knew about it.)

Roman told her they knew about it and what had caused it. He commented that he needed to get on sending the babies somewhere, but that he hadn’t even looked into it yet.

That news didn’t upset Rand as much as she thought it might. There had never been enough room the in the enclosure for the mother and babies to begin with, and now that they were ‘weaned’ it was becoming dangerous. “Maybe the preserve that took Wyvern would want them too? Places like that usually have more than one animal from a place, to help build awareness, to teach about the bigger ecosystem and not just a single detail.”

After that she was tired, but hadn’t seen Nibbles yet. She didn’t want to tell Roman she was tired and have to leave. She also didn’t want to be careless, so she asked to see the letter about Mr. Wyvern. That way she could sit down for a few minutes.

When she was ready, he pulled up the letter about Mr Wyvern. It said the snake was doing well and had adjusted to the new environment and was much happier with all the space he had now. A video was attached showing the snake in his habitat.

~ Roman

Rand’s reaction to the video pulled grins from everyone in the lab. One of the techs that had worked regularly with the Crimson Cobra shook his head and rolled his eyes with a grin. Rand was terrified of that snake and everyone knew it. However Rand was acting like it was a big cuddly body pillow now.

Roman smiled watching her watch the video, his arm around her. She was terrified of Mr Wyvern but she still liked him, Roman knew that.

The video was just long enough and Rand felt better for having sat, but was determined to see Nibbles. Rand grabbed a container of food, Nibbles favorite, the one with the bright blue looking raspberries, and carefully opened the lid and scattered them around. Nibbles was in her den and Rand hoped the treat would lure her out. It did after a moment. Rand had slipped the sleeve on and like always left her hand in the cage. She didn’t expect Nibbles to come over to her. Nibbles had always been stand-offish when she’d been gone from the lab for awhile. So Rand was very surprised when the mouse skittered straight over and crawled into her palm. Rand used her other hand to put treats down. Then things got…complicated. Nibbles wasn’t so interested in the treats as she was Rand. It wasn’t unusual for her to wrap her claws into the sleeve Rand was wearing. What Nibbles did not do was climb, but climb she did…trying to move up the sleeve. “Chan eil. Tha thu a’ dol gam thoirt ann an trioblaid. (No. No no no. You’re going to get me in trouble.)” Rand tried to grab her and stop her, she tried to pull the sleeve off, but Nibbles was faster than Rand anticipated.

Rand

Roman put his hands in front of the mouse, trying to block her from climbing further up Rand’s sleeve but not wanting to cause her to fall or hurt her. He was surprised as Rand was about the mouse’s behaviour, she never climbed and she was always standoffish, especially if she hadn’t around the person. But she must have missed Rand because she was climbing her arm and clinging on like Roman had never seen her do.

~ Roman

Nibbles stopped sniffing at the hands suddenly in front of her, but didn’t seem upset. She was familiar with Roman and only twitched her nose against his hand a few times. He handled her more than Rand did. Rand reached in and carefully tried to fold the sleeve under the claws where they passed inside near her skin. She didn’t want Nibbles to accidently scratch her or her claws get hurt. Then she lifted the mouse and sleeve thinking to pull the sleeve off, but Nibbles started to squeek and squirm and sounded rather distressed. Rand let her go and looked at Roman totally perplexed and also feeling guilty. Rand gently stroked the mouse between the ears which seemed to at least keep her still and not trying to climb for the moment.

Rand