Posted by Commander Roman Alden (First Officer & Chief Science Officer) in side-sim: The Reckoning

Posted by Ensign Rand Farquharson (Yeoman First Class) in side-sim: The Reckoning

Posted by Commander Roman Alden (First Officer & Chief Science Officer) in side-sim: The Reckoning
Posted by… suppressed (8) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)
Rand seemed either anxious or upset, and Roman wasn’t sure why. So he did the one thing that usually helped: he pulled her into a hug, wrapping his arms around her. He ended up using her as a bit of a support when he lifted his hand from her desk. “Don’t be sorry. I prefer talking face to face anyway.” Partially because that way he knew who was around to hear what he might say. Then he nodded to her question. He wanted to sit. The appointment made him nervous and he did need to rest his leg a little. But he hoped she had the time to stay with him, he wouldn’t do much resting if she didn’t.

~ Roman

Rand relaxed when Roman hugged her. She didn’t mind him using her for support, but it made her worry that he needed to. “Let’s go sit. I don’t have anything until after dinner.” She was in no hurry to stop hugging him, but he didn’t need to show up for the appt with his leg already hurting.

They made their way back to his quarters and once there Rand gave him an ice pack and checked the time for the meds. Then she sat down next to him. “In the gym right?”

Rand

Roman was in no hurry to let her go either, but his leg hurt enough he was a little relieved when she started moving towards his quarters. They made their way back to his quarters and Roman sat on his bunk, leaving space for Rand. He set the ice pack against his leg when she gave it to him. Then he nodded to answer her question. “In the gym, 1400. It should be somewhere between a half hour and an hour long.”

~ Roman

Rand nodded thoughtfully, “Randy all ready did some of it, right? That was the point of all that earlier when Elbbirt was here?” Rand was sitting on his good side. She was going to ask him if Mushu was happy to see him and stopped herself. Even though Roman was more fond of Mushu than any of the other animals, Roman tried to be very factual about them and not allowing them or himself to become of fond of each other. It secretly made Rand laugh because she was pretty sure Roman was attached to the little lizard, whether he realized it or not.

Roman shook his head. “No, that was just a movement and strength test to see how the muscle they grew functions. It wasn’t therapy or anything.” Roman was attached to Mushu as much as he pretended not to be.

She sat with him for 30-40 minutes while they talked. She didn’t think it would take him half an hour to get to the gym but she didn’t want him to rush and twist his leg either. “How long do you think you’ll need to get to the gym?” she picked up the single hypo that was left in his room and handed it to him. 2 more days of them and he’d be done with that part. She had no idea how long the PT would take.

“Ten, twenty minutes, maybe. It’s deck 8, but it’s about as much walking as getting to the biology lab.” Roman replied. He’d rather ditch the crutch, but for that long of a walk he was going to need it. At least he could walk a little faster with it. When she handed him the hypo he used it for his leg. At least there were only two days of them left.

When he was ready she walked with him to the gym and his appt.

Rand

When he was ready he stood slowly, grabbing one of the crutches leaned on the wall near the bed, and walked with Rand down to the gym. The gym had a lot of empty space for the doctor to set up for his appointment in.

~ Roman

The doctor was ready when they came in. One single brow raised when Rand sat down out of the way. She had planned to run laps or use the treadmill but Roman would not be happy if she did with her ankle still sore. The doctor motioned for Alden to join him. Rand watched on taking mental notes.

Rand

Roman headed reluctantly over to the doctor waiting for him. “Commander, right on time,” said doctor Sovak. Roman nodded. Sovak had reviewed Alden’s file in advance, now he asked Alden several questions, about his pain level, any difficulties walking or otherwise using the leg, and then anything else he’d noticed about it. Roman tried to ask about his duty restrictions, Sovak would not answer the questions, not until the end of the appointment.

Rand understood that Roman wanted to know, but like anything Sovak wouldn’t know anything until he’d seen for himself how bad Roman’s leg was. But she recognized the look of complete frustration and irritation on Roman’s face at Sovak’s refusal to make a decision from the very beginning.

For half an hour, Sovak walked Alden through various stretches, poses, and positions meant to stretch or work the muscles in the injured area of his leg. It wasn’t dissimilar to what Elbbirt and Randy had Roman doing that morning, except Sovak would make Roman hold them for a while, or push it further, or something else. For Roman, some of them were painful, but if anything was too painful, Sovak would let him stop and say they’d work up to it.

Rand had no way of knowing if the results were good, bad, or expected. She could only hope that Sovak was experienced enough to tell when his patient was in pain or struggling because she had no idea if Roman would be stubborn about it or honest. She knew he’d had physical therapy when his leg had been hurt initially, but didn’t know if he was simply annoyed with it or felt the same way as he did about sickbay.

When they were finished, they talked again. “To answer the question I know you’re asking,” Sovak said before Roman could push the question of his duty restrictions, “At least two weeks of light duty. That’s not standing or walking for extended periods of time, nothing strenuous like running or jumping which means no landing parties. Outside of duty, no strenuous exercise, and don’t overdo it, or you’ll set your recovery back, make it take longer.” Roman seemed unhappy with how long the doctor wanted him on light duty. “I have my labs to take care of, my first officer duties, I can’t be tied to a chair all day.” Sovak gave him one of those looks doctors seemed to love, a stern and pointed stare. “Failure to follow my directions will lengthen both your recovery and your light duty durations. As it is, I expect to work with you for at least a month. We’ll re-evaluate as needed to see whether to lengthen or shorten your time. Twice per week, around your duty schedule.”

~ Roman

Two weeks seemed like a long time to Roman, but it was better than bed rest. And the chair Rand had procured for the lab should help a lot. Honeslty, most of Roman’s work could be done from a chair. Reports, feeding and observing the animals, even using the microscopes and chemical analysis equipment. It was just walking to the other labs. Savok also said they could re-evaluate as they went, and she’d already found two times a week in Roman’s schedule. And bridge duty was a breeze. The science station had a chair and if he was in charge on the bridge he had the captain’s chair. A month seemed a long time, but Rand hoped by the end of the month Roman’s leg would be like it had never been injured.

Rand

Finally, the appointment was over, and Roman headed over to Rand, using his crutch. He’d received a lecture from the doctor both for not using both crutches and then not using any crutch. Apparently, using one was going to be hard on his shoulder. But Roman was stubborn and there was little chance he’d use both. PT for him wasn’t as bad as Sickbay, but it did remind him of.. things and as he headed back to Rand, he seemed in a foul mood.

~ Roman

Rand stood up from where she’d been sitting as he walked over. Rand could see the bad mood, in fact she could almost feel it rolling off of him. So she asked the only thing she thought might make it better. “Do you want to go to the lab and finish out your shift? Sovak cleared you for duty.”

Rand

Roman checked the time. It was nearly 1500, which meant he’d normally be on shift another two hours. It wouldn’t be enough time to get much done, but… He couldn’t help it. It’d been more than a week since he’d been there at all, or at least when he was supposed to be. Roman nodded and turned to head out of the gym. “Twice a week for a month… Who’s got time for that?” He complained to her.

~ Roman

“You do. You usually go to the gym a minimum of twice a week to work out. You won’t be doing that anyway so you just change the workout. Monday at 1730 and Thursdays at 1900 just like always. No disruption to your duty schedule.” She walked with him back to the lab. “I hope you find the new chair practical for your needs.”

Roman scowled. “At least I won’t need to leave during shift…” He said as they walked. And then they reached the lab. “The new chair?”

It was already at his desk in the lab. It would roll around the lab, and since Roman insisted the lab be kept neat it was easy to move around. It had a deep seat that ended just behind his knee so his upper leg was fully supported and the back was of a decent height for support. The height was adjustable so he could work comfortably at any lab space. And the best part of the chair was a foot rest. It was mostly just a bar, but Roman could prop his foot there so his leg didn’t dangle and put undo strain in the new muscle.

Rand hoped he would just use it and she didn’t need to remind him of why. It would allow him to do just about anything in the biology lab and not break his restrictions. His chai in his office was fine for that work, and the other labs he only visited briefly each day. It wasn’t ideal but it would stop him from having to be stuck at the desk all day just watching.

Entering the lab Rand waved at Franks who was busy cleaning out Nibbles cage. Rand walked over to the small holding cage and to everyone’s delight was doing her talk to cute animals voice. Mushu’s eyes were waving back and forth following Roman across the lab, with one paw pressed against the glass.

Rand

The chair was perfect… for a chair. Roman detested sitting all day. But at least it allowed him to do more than sit at a desk all day. The first thing he did upon entering the lab was head for Mushu, checking his food and enclosure for cleanliness. It had been kept emaculately, of course.

Then he went around to each of the other animal’s enclosures and checked them, limping on his crutch around the lab, and then he sat down in the new chair, resting his foot on the foot rest. Once Franks was finished with Nibbles’ cage, Roman motioned him over to talk to him.

~ Roman

Rand was glad to see that he liked the chair. Oh he was by no means happy to use it, but at least it was going to help. She got it, more than he probably realized…(she didn’t know Randy had told Roman about her faltered recover and months of bed rest)…but there were ways to get around it and not be quite so frustrated. Once Franks was finished with Nibbles she left the lab. She’d done all of her observations for the day and Roman didn’t need a baby-sitter.

Making sure he hadn’t left anything amiss, Franks walked over to Alden’s desk. “Cmdr?”

Franks