Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Leah Hart (Nurse Practitioner/Counseling) in Temp Quarters- Assessing the Situation

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

Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Leah Hart (Nurse Practitioner/Counseling) in Temp Quarters- Assessing the Situation

(snip)

Roman sighed a long sigh. “I wanted it to stop, the weight, the… emotional pain, I suppose? All of it. It had nothing to do with Rand or the Sentinel or anything now and everything to do with… certain events in my past. The note was… Well, I suppose preparing, but more just… wanting? Without a concrete when or where?”

~ Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO

She nodded slowly. “These things have a way of coming back and hitting us in ways we can’t always anticipate.” Leah blew out a breath. “Look, I know you just want to get through this as fast as possible, but part of my evaluation is figuring out what happens after you leave here. We’re making progress, Roman. It might not feel that way, but we are. And we’ve been at this awhile. Under normal circumstances I would never keep going for so long. But we’re both a bit tired and could use some food. Let’s take an hour break. You can have something to eat, have a shower, freshen yourself up. Feel free to take a quick nap, read, play your violin, hang out with Pipkin, whatever feels good for you right now. I’ll be back and we’ll go from there.”

Leah pushed herself to her feet, and stretched, feeling her circulation. She wasn’t giving him the choice of a break because it wasn’t just about him in this moment. She needed to be okay to continue too. “I’ll be back soon.”

She slipped out of the quarters and maintained a stoic face as she moved to Sickbay to both give an update to Kreed and see if she could contact Jay’s parents.

~Leah Hart, NP

Once Leah left, Roman wasn’t able to hold himself back as he started crying again. Instead of curling up on the bed like he wanted to do, he pulled his violin out of its case and began to play. His posture was perfect, his form textbook. The tune he played was melancholic, full of deep pain. The tempo slow and sad.

~ Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO

It was just over an hour before Hart returned.

She stepped in after have a cat nap, something to eat and redoing her hair. She could hear the music before she stepped in and didn’t say anything as she crossed the threshold. Instead, Leah took a seat on the end of his bed, closed her eyes and just listened to him play.

~Leah Hart, NP

He’d already been playing for about forty minutes so it wasn’t a surprise when he stopped not too long after. The song finished on a long, sad low note. He set the violin down very gently and turned to Leah. “I heard you enter. I hope you don’t mind my finishing my piece.”

~ Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO

“Not at all,” she said, opening her eyes. “I enjoy listening to you play. I didn’t want to disturb you in the middle of your piece.”

Leah gesturing with her chin to his violin. “Did playing help at all?”

~Leah Hart, NP

“It always does. Just not… Enough,” Roman replied with a sigh. “Your enjoyment makes me happy. I rarely play for others.”

~ Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO