Posted by Commander Roman Alden (First Officer & Chief Science Officer) in Temp Quarters- Assessing the Situation

Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Rand Farquharson (Yeoman First Class) in Temp Quarters- Assessing the Situation

Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Leah Hart (Nurse Practitioner/Counseling) in Temp Quarters- Assessing the Situation
Posted by… suppressed (5) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)

Roman squeezed her so tight she ended up in his lap. It was rather embarrassing, but she didn’t let it show. She just hugged him. Then she told him the same thing she had when she convinced him to talk to Randy. “The work is hard, but if you do it, when it’s over, you’ll be glad you did.” She kissed him gently. “Don’t you dare give up you stubborn English,” she said in her thickest accent.

Yeoman Rand

Roman smiled sadly, not so sure, and kept her held tightly to him for another moment. Then he hesitantly let her go and sipped his coffee. “You’d better visit as often as she lets you.”

~ Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO

Rand leaned back and looked him in the eyes. She looked quite serious, “As you wish.” She kissed him then gave him that look, “But you had better be around for me to visit. Tha?”

Yeoman Rand

Roman nodded and hugged her again. He kissed her quickly and gently, taking her hand and holding it. “Okay.”

~ Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO

Rand smiled at him, her thumb rubbing his engagement ring. “Good. Now, I have a very serious question for you. What about the ROUSs?”

Yeoman Rand

“ROUSs? I don’t think they exist,” said Roman, putting all the effort he could muster into his imitation of Wesley. He smiled back and squeezed her hand gently.

~ Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO

Rand’s eyes gleamed at him with a smile, “Good thing for you. Oh! I bet they do on Kelmao and they’re probably so beautiful,” she said wistfully. “I wish we could go back.”

Yeoman Rand

“We are supposed to next time we’re nearby.” Roman said. “There is interest in the ecosystem there within Starfleet’s scientific community.”

~ Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO

“Really?” The enthusiasm and excitement in her voice was impossible to miss. She wanted to ask if she would get to go with the away team again, but things were much more complicated now than they were then. They hadn’t been engaged then. The mission to Kelmao was the highlight of her career so far. Oh, she wouldn’t get recognition for anything connected with it, but it had been fascinating and fun to help the scientists do their work. “There is so much left for you to discover there. Do you think they will put an observation post in? Wouldn’t it be amazing if you got to oversee it?”

Yeoman Rand

Roman nodded. “They likely will put one there.” He shrugged, “If I did, I couldn’t be on Sentinel anymore. I’d have to choose one.”

~ Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO

Rand hated that thought. “I know. But it would be amazing for you. I know you love Sentinel and her crew. It might be a long time before they do that though. You’ll get to go back either way. You’ll see the star cats again.”

Yeoman Rand

“There’s no way to tell yet.” Roman did love this ship, and the crew. He smiled a little. “They were beautiful, weren’t they?”

~ Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO

“I didn’t know something could be that beautiful. The pictures don’t really capture it. Kelmao is stunning. Everything about it.” Rand sighed wistfully. “The way the glass lizard could reflect light. I never heard of that before. I’m glad that bird didn’t catch it.”

Yeoman Rand

“I would have liked to study the wildlife there more,” Roman said. He couldn’t imagine letting go of Mushu though, and he thought the lizard wouldn’t stand for it either.

~ Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO

“You’ll get to when we go back. I’m sure Cpt Asam would be willing to extend the time there, so the study can be more extensive.” Asam seemed willing to do most things as far as Rand had been able to tell. Her background was security, but she was encouraging and supportive of all departments.

Yeoman Rand

“There will have to be the time. Sentinel is needed for many things.” Roman was just being negative as a result of his mind state. He just couldn’t see hope in anything right now.

~ Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO

Rand decided not to push it. He was right, Sentinel was needed for many things, but enough time to do those things properly was also important. He wasn’t in the state of mind to be optimistic right now. Pipkin on the other hand, had been ignored long enough. She had started hopping fast circles on the table and then sitting up and staring at him, and then doing it again. She wanted to play.

Yeoman Rand

Roman played with the bunny with his hand, smiling a little bit as she hopped around on the table.

~ Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO

The next few minutes were consumed with playing with Pipkin and light talk about things she might need and being amused by her antics. Rand was aware of their time being short and would soon end, but she refrained from mentioning in exchange of just being there with him while she could.

Yeoman Rand

The time was close and it seemed that their conversation had reached a natural end. She lowered her PADD (she really had been reading) and smiled. “So, it’s time,” she said, rising from her chair. Leah moved over to the pair and gazed at Roman. “As I mentioned, you’ll stay here tonight, but I’m hoping today we’ll have a plan for how things will move forward. I’m not going to make promises about what happens tomorrow as that won’t be fair to any of us. But, regardless,”-she turned to Rand-“if you want to visit in the morning and have breakfast together, I have no issue with that. If my eval is completed and filed, then we might be able to relax some of the restrictions. But that really does depend on how today goes.”

Rand hugged Roman tightly and kissed him sweetly. “I love you.” Hart’s offer for breakfast lifted her mood some. She looked at Roman, “I’ll come for breakfast if you want.”

“Yes, of course I want that,” Roman said, squeezing her hand again.

She gazed at Alden. “Commander, I need you to understand that this isn’t a set test you can pass or fail. Everything I’m doing is factoring in you as a unique person with the ultimate goal of getting you back on duty. But I have a duty of care to ensure I’m not rushing the process and risking harm, even incidentally, so I’m moving cautiously. That doesn’t mean that there is no flexibility in any of this, so if you have additional requests as we go forward, do ask. I can’t promise what the answer will be, but I think you’ll find I’m less conventional than many of my contemporaries.”

She looked back at Rand. “I’ll walk you out. Do you need a hand carrying anything back?”

~Leah Hart, NP

Rand let Roman say good bye to Pipkin before scooping her up, “Come here Pipkin.” She put her in one arm and grabbed her coffee cup. Pipkin snuggled until Rand walked towards the door. She didn’t want to leave. She kicked and scrambled out of Rand’s arms, worrying the Yeoman that the rabbit would get hurt.

Roman didn’t want to let the rabbit go, but he did. He watched Rand carry her away. It made him sad to see her scramble to stay.

Pipkin scrambled over to Roman and sat up on her hand legs waiting for him to pick her up. “I think I may need you to carry my coffee cup, so I can hold on to her. I don’t need it right away though.”

Yeoman Rand

“Can she stay?” Roman said suddenly. “We can set her up a temporary hutch.” He looked at Leah, “Please?”

~ Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO

Rand held her breath, silently praying Hart would say ‘yes’. That was the most excited and hopeful she’d seen Roman in awhile. And that please just tugged at her heart.

While Leah hadn’t grown up with pets, she understood the bond that people could have with them. It was no different than with other people, though she would say it was an often easier relationship than with other people. She gazed at Roman, her brown eyes taking him in with curiosity. After a moment she smiled softly. “Okay, Pipkin can stay and we’ll sort it out.”

Rand let out the breath she was holding slowly and smiled. She could cheer, but she didn’t. She handed Roman the end of the leash. “I’ll get her stuff together.”

Leah turned to Rand. “I’ll come and help you and we’ll get a little safe place for set-up.” She looked over at Roman. “We’ll be back soon. Hopefully before she pees on anything,” she said, breaking into a chuckle.

She stepped out of the quarters and waited for Rand.

~Leah Hart, NP

Rand tossed a smile at Roman as she left. When the door closed she looked at Hart, “Thank you.” She started walking toward the lift. “He asked me for a few things, I know you have to approve them.”

Yeoman Rand

Roman picked up Pipkin and put the rabbit in his lap, giving her more pet. “Thank you.” He said. “Oh, she won’t pee, she’s litter trained. As long as we get her litter tray within a few hours it’ll be fine.”

~ Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO

Leah acknowledged Roman and they moved along towards the lift. “It was quite simple really,” she said to Rand. “He told me what he needed, even if he didn’t phrase it precisely. That was a first between us, and there was no risk to saying yes. It was an easy request to fill.”

“What other requests did he ask of you?”

~Leah Hart, NP