Posted by Commander Roman Alden (First Officer & Chief Science Officer) in When Paparazzi Hide in the Bushes

Posted by Ensign Rand Farquharson (Yeoman First Class) in When Paparazzi Hide in the Bushes

Posted by Commander Roman Alden (First Officer & Chief Science Officer) in When Paparazzi Hide in the Bushes
Posted by… suppressed (4) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)
Roman rereviewed and accepted the reports. Then he spent some time playing with studying Mushu. He took lunch to his office that day and the rest of his shift was uneventful but long and busy. When he was finally done for the day he went to their quarters to see if Rand was there.

~ Roman

Rand was laying on her stomach, red hair long and loose down her back, knees bent, feet in the air and crossed at the ankles. She had a stylus in her hand but chewing on the end, a PaDD in front of her. The desk was littered with data disks. Pipkin was curled up in the small of her back seemingly asleep. When the door opened, the small rabbit popped up and scampered down the bed to get to him for what she thought was overdue attention.

Rand

Roman stepped in so the door would close and gave Pipkin a little attention. “You working?” He asked Rand as he sat on the edge of the bed next to her, careful of Pipkin.

~ Roman

Rand looked around at him and smiled. “Nope all done for the day. Early! Even done with Asam’s work. I can’t believe it.” She laughed as Pipkin hopped I to his lap, placed her front paws on his chest and stretched her nose up trying to get his attention. “I was trying to write a letter to Mrs. Caliano, but I don’t know what to say.”

Rand

“Early! That’s fantastic.” Roman said. He pet the rabbit as she stretched up trying to get his attention. “Okay, Pipkin, okay, you’re so needy,” he said softly to the bunny in his ‘pet’ voice. Then he looked at Rand. “You are? Oh.” He seemed like he was going to say something else, then decided against it and hastily turned his attention back to Pipkin.

~ Roman

Rand noticed the change and sat up quickly. Had she done something wrong? She forced her hands not to fidget, or Roman would worry about her rather than talking. “Do you not want me to?” She asked slowly. You got a letter, and you answered. That’s what you were supposed to do. “She wrote to both of us, and she asked me specifically. It would be rude not to respond.” It sounded pitiful in her mind, but it was true. She wanted them to like her. “I won’t if it bothers you. I’m … I’m sorry, Roman.”

Rand

Roman immediately picked up on the edge in her voice. He looked at her and shook his head. “No, you’re right… It would be rude.” He smiled, a bit forced, but as reassuringly as he could muster. “You write back. You should.” It was rude of him to have not responded in three years.

It was one of those things that kept getting worse the longer you waited and at this point he just didn’t know what to do. He still couldn’t write back. He could still barely look at a letter of theirs. “There’s nothing to apologize for. I don’t want you to not do it because of me.” He smiled sadly, his voice cracking like he might cry. And only one thing made him cry that easily, and that was Jay.

~ Roman

Pipkin realized something was wrong and she rubbed her nose and head agai st his chest. Rand moved over to sit next to him. She slipped her arm around his waist. “I don’t want to upset you.” She squeezed gently. “They miss you, and I can tell you miss them, too. How long has it been?”

Rand

Roman wrapped an arm around her as tears began silently making their way down his face. With his other hand he gave Pipkin a little more pet. “Not since before…” He looked at her. She’d know what he meant. “W-we had a vacation planned. For December of that year.” The more he spoke the harder it was to keep his voice level. He shook his head as he really started crying, “I never went.”

~ Roman

Rand pulled him toward her as he started crying harder. She rubbed his back and rocked side to side gently. Pipkin hunkered down on his lap and nosed his hand. “Oh Roman,” she whispered. She knew everything about Jay made him sad, but the Calianos would have welcomed him, helped him. She was certain of that. They were still writing to him, and wanted him to visit. The letter said so. They could have comforted each other. Made the burden much less. But Rand thought she understood. Roman was feeling the same guilt she had felt about her grandfather. She sand softly in Gaelic for long moments, just holding him.

“You should write them. I’ll help you. They want to hear from you. They love you.”

Rand