Posted by Commander Roman Alden (First Officer & Chief Science Officer) in Fear and Grief

Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Rand Farquharson (Yeoman First Class) in Fear and Grief

Posted by Commander Roman Alden (First Officer & Chief Science Officer) in Fear and Grief
Posted by… suppressed (26) by the Post Ghost! 👻
After his chat with Doctor Kreed, Roman exited Sickbay in his usual rush to get away from there. He checked the lab for Rand, and when he didn’t see her, headed to their quarters, thinking he might find her there. He entered the quarters and sat on the bed.

~ Roman

Rand had left her appointment and after not finding Roman in the lab she went back to their quarters. Roman wasn’t there either, but he was probably working. She sat down at the computer and did what work she could remotely, which wasn’t much. She had hours to sulk before she could do anything useful. She was stuck in these quarters again all because she had a panic attack. She tried to be angry at Scott for telling on her, but she couldn’t. Amelia was being a good friend.

She changed out of her uniform and curled up on the bed. She hadn’t even let Pipkin out. How was she supposed to stay in Star Fleet if she was sent to her room like a naughty child?

She was still in bed when Roman finally got back.

Rand

Roman saw her curled up on the bed and set a hand over her. He was upset, she would be able to tell if she weren’t so upset herself. “It’s only a few days. You’ll be back on full duty in no time.”

~ Roman

Rand sighed, “Yeah.” He didn’t sound good. “What’s wrong?” She sat up. She could pout later. Right now the only useful thing she could do was be there for him. She wouldn’t be able to do that for much longer anyway. She couldn’t serve like this. She rolled over and sat up.

Rand

Roman looked at her and hugged her. “I’m fine.” That was clearly a lie. His eyes were puffy like he’d been crying, though Kreed’s wash cloth trick took care of the redness from crying. “You’ll see. It’ll be a few days and then you’ll be even better than before.”

~ Roman

Rand hugged him back, but knew he was lying. She couldn’t make him tell her. He was probably mad because he had snapped at Kreed because he had been forced to take her to sickbay. She would have gone by herself. He didn’t have to leave the lab for her. He was probably mad about that too. “Thank you for checking on me, but I made it here just fine. I know you have to get back to the lab.”

Rand

He hugged her tighter. “I don’t want to.” He had to, not quite yet, but he did have a few more things that needed doing. Right now though he just wanted to be either alone or with her. He rested his head on her shoulder and sighed.

~ Roman

He didn’t want to? That wasn’t Roman. He loved his work and would rather be among the crew than babysitting her. He said nothing was wrong, but he never put his head on her shoulder like that unless something was. She hugged him and sat with him awhile. Finally, “Do you want me to make you some tea?”

Rand

Roman nodded against her. When he pulled away from her so she could get up, his eyes were moist again like he was going to start crying. He was trying really hard not to, though. He knew she was upset about being put on restricted duty. “Kreed isn’t angry over what I said, by the way. I don’t want you to worry about that.” He had been, but they’d talked it out and Rand didn’t need to know that right now.

~ Roman

Another lie. She stood up and moved over to the counter. Rand didn’t always know what was expected or read people well. Especially when she was already anxious, but the tone of Kreed’s voice was unmistakable. Or maybe she didn’t understand, and it was her worry because Kreed had made him leave. “Okay.” She focused on making his tea. Her movement precise and economical. She busied herself cleaning the already clean counter while waiting for the water to heat.

Rand

“We’ve worked it out, anyway,” he admitted distractedly as he waited for the tea. He shrugged. “I don’t think he’ll hold it against me.”

~ Roman

She nodded, keeping her gaze on what she was doing. “That wasn’t like you. You shouldn’t have come, I upset you.”

Rand

“No, you didn’t. The doctor did, by making me leave.” Roman looked at her, “I won’t have you thinking that. Okay? I want to be there for you.” Maybe it wasn’t like him. Then again, he wasn’t much like him lately.

~ Roman

She had though. If he wasn’t worried about her, then he wouldn’t have been upset by Kreed. She hadn’t wanted him to go. She didn’t understand why Kreed made him leave. None of the other doctors did that. “I know, but it doesn’t looks like Lt Kreed is going to allow it. So you won’t have to anymore.” She set the tea into his cup and gently poured the boiling water over it.

Rand

“It wasn’t about my being there. Rand, I’m not going to make you go there alone.” He sighed, “Unless you want to, I mean.” He leaned back against the bed pillows. “Why did Elbbirt have to go and retire?”

~ Roman

“Because he earned it, and wanted to spend time with his wife, kids, and grandkids while he still could. I’m happy for him.” Rand added honey and cream to his tea and brought it over to him.

Rand

“Well, me too, it’s just…” He sighed and shook his head. He took the tea and began to sip at it. “You think I can reschedule the rest of the day for tomorrow?”

~ Roman

Rand shrugged. “I guess.” He was in charge of his own schedule. She sat at the computer instead of the bed and pulled up the schedule. “You have a meeting with your lab heads this afternoon, for your conference call with Star Fleet Science command in the morning.”

Rand

“I can’t reschedule that. I’m to report our current status and most recent findings in the morning.” Roman sighed. “Alright, never mind.” He really, really didn’t seem to want to go at all.

~ Roman

“And you have quarterly meetings with security and engineering after that tomorrow, and the ship chess tournament after your shift.” Rand nodded, “It’s okay. You don’t have to babysit me. I won’t wander off anymore.”

Rand

Roman glanced at her. “Miranda, I’m not babysitting you. You don’t need babysat. You’re a capable officer. One of the best we’ve got. Working from our quarters or no.”

~ Roman

Rand laughed, “You say that because I help with your paperwork.” Roman hated paperwork, everyone knew it. He did it, but he grumbled the whole time. “I set up the conference room earlier. So it’s ready.”

Rand

Roman shook his head, “I say that because you’re the best yeoman in the fleet.” He nodded, “Good, thank you.” He sipped some more of his tea with a sigh. He’d never not wanted to work this much.

~ Roman

“You’re biased,” Rand grinned softly. “I’ll make sure it’s ready for your call tomorrow after your meeting today.” It then occurred to her she was going to miss seeing Nibbles too. The poor mouse wouldn’t know what to do. Rand didn’t either.

Rand

Roman figured she would still be allowed to work with nibbles, she liked doing that. He nodded without saying anything else. He finished off his tea and set the cup down. “I guess I should go back.”

~ Roman

“Okay.” Rand turned the console off, “You… I can compile your notes after if you want.”

Rand

He nodded. “If you have time, it would help.” Then he headed for the door.

After he left, Rand took a shower and curled up in the bed. She almost didn’t set an alarm for herself. Feeling it wouldn’t matter much if she got up or not. But she did because her duty was important to her and she was supposed to do the work. It took her very little time to compile all the random notes from Roman and the lab heads into a concise report. She’d been doing it long enough she understood their shorthand and ramblings. The report was returned to him before his shift was over. Rand downloaded the report to a data disk and then went and prepped the conference room again for his call. She probably wasn’t supposed to be out there, but no one used the conference room randomly except for her. Everything else was scheduled.

The rest of his shift felt like it went very slowly. The departmental meeting felt intolerably boring, which was unusual for him. But everything was prepared for the next day. When his shift ended, he headed directly back to their quarters.

~ Roman

Rand didn’t return to their room, instead she went to the yeoman’s quarters between the CO and XO quarters. It was still technically assigned to her. It felt very empty without Randy there. She missed him, and wished he had stayed. She would never tell her brother that. He had an amazing opportunity for his career and she was glad he took it. She spread PaDDs and reports out on the extra bed and the table and sat down to work on the end of day reports. She took much longer than she normally did to do the reports, without being late with them. Then she sat on the single bed and waited, expecting to receive corrections, updates, requests, or whatnot from the captain about them.

Rand

When he didn’t see her in heir quarters, he curled up on the bed, under the covers. He figured she still had work to do, perhaps she was in her yeoman’s office. The space was small but allowed her to focus on her work. He cried under the covers, hard, still upset by his earlier conversation with Kreed.

~ Roman

Rand didn’t return for a long time. When she came back, she saw Roman in bed. She turned off the lights thinking he was asleep. She crawled into bed and curled on her side.

Rand