Posted Sept. 27, 2022, 8:45 a.m. by Ensign Rand Farquharson (Yeoman First Class) (Jennifer Ward)
Posted by Commander Roman Alden (First Officer & Chief Science Officer) in side - sim: A Secret is a Prison
Posted by Ensign Rand Farquharson (Yeoman First Class) in side - sim: A Secret is a Prison
Posted by Commander Roman Alden (First Officer & Chief Science Officer) in side - sim: A Secret is a Prison
Posted by… suppressed (8) by the Post Ghost! 👻(snip)
Rand nodded and then leaned in a little. “Try to drink some of the smoothie, it will hurt Gorshin’s feelings if you bring it back full. And then he’ll make you a whole buffet of them trying to find one you like.” And the last thing Roman needed was Gorshin trying to feed him a feast every time the chef saw him.Roman chuckled just a little bit, he knew she was right about Gorshin and he did not want more food or drink he couldn’t manage to finish. He ended up finishing a little less than half the smoothie.
And that’s how their days started to go back to normal. When Roman, or Rand for that matter, woke up and couldn’t get back to sleep they would walk (and slowly Rand was able to go further) then an attempt at breakfast, and Rand would get to spend some time with Nibbles if they got up early enough. Then dinner and time in the lab for Rand after her evening shift. Elbbirt was absolutely insistent that she not give up her days off, she still needed the rest, but Rand was restless and after her next evaluation, Elbbirt extended her work hours to 2 three hour sessions. That extra two hours were allowing her to catch up on the massive back log of reports and correspondence with command. It was daunting and some of the reports they wanted clarified were from months before and people were confused and irate. Until they realized why it took Rand so long to get to them.
Rand
Roman’s sleep was bad and getting worse. He was talking to Randy, but he still wasn’t doing well. He still wasn’t eating that well, especially on particularly hard days for him. It was getting harder for Roman not to bury himself in work, but he had to try not to so he could keep taking care of Rand. He was happy when Elbbirt extended Rand’s working hours, he knew how restless she was. Their walks were longer too, and he knew that meant she was getting better. He’d started practicing jiu jitsu again, trying to keep his mind off things (it didn’t work that well) but he didn’t practice as hard or long as he used to.
~ Roman
Rand was glad to see Roman practicing his jiu jitsu again, and despite Randy’s teasing, not because she liked watching him practice. It was another return to normal. But Roman was struggling, she could finally put the pieces together, his lack of sleep, the long hours, how he was snippy and arrogant when dealing with things he found annoying or subpart.
But mostly it was the reports. It was the same pattern being repeated from last year. Rand was going to have to do something. Last year she could spend the extra hours helping him fix them or making sure they were error free, this year she couldn’t. She would much rather not push him about it, but duty came before how her heart felt about it. So that night after they returned to the lab, she made strong Scottish coffee. Then she sat on the bed cross legged beside him with the lights very low and started telling him another story. It didn’t have the flair and whimsy like before. Using her voice and acting skills to enhance the recitation, but she tried really hard.
Rand
Roman hadn’t been having Scottish coffee recently, he preferred the sleepy tea unless he really needed the coffee. So Rand’s strong coffee was enough to make Roman just a little tipsy. Her story didn’t have its usual flair, but that was okay, Roman was falling asleep to the sound of her voice anyway, his head leaned gently against her. He was asleep for longer than he had been recently, but was still awake again by the early hours of the morning.
~ Roman
Rand had stayed awake continuing the story until she was certain he was asleep. Then she got up and quietly prepped the sleepy tea, as Roman called it, for when he woke up. Then she gave herself her hypo and went to bed. She slept quietly until she woke when Roman did. Now that she knew it was a problem she would wake up when the nightmares started. She would hug him and whisper quietly until he woke up and the breathe with him.
That night after he’d started to relax she got up and started the story again where she thought he had fallen asleep while she heated the tea. Then bringing it to him she sat back down letting him lay against her.
Rand
He felt bad she woke up every time, he hated waking her up, usually multiple times per night. That night, when he’d stopped shaking and was starting to relax she got up and he reached for her as if hesitant to let her go. He sat up a little so he could drink the tea and listened to her tell her story again, leaning back against her when she sat back down by him. Soon he was back to sleep, the empty cup of tea on the bedside table.
~ Roman
Rand hadn’t wanted to get up, but she knew the tea and stories helped. It was also why she had prepped the tea so she wouldn’t have to be up long. Rand fell asleep shortly after he did. The slept later than they had been. Rand didn’t get to do more than feed Nibbles that morning before she had her rounds. She checked Roman’s reports to see if getting more sleep helped at all.
It was another routine started, but one Rand wished they could do without.
Rand
Judging by his reports, it had helped a little, but not enough. There were less mistakes, but still enough to be problematic. He looked a little better that morning, but by afternoon he looked tired again. He got himself an extra strong black tea, trying to stay awake so he could finish his work, so they’d have time for Rand to visit Nibbles after his shift that evening.
~ Roman
Rand sat at the work station in their quarters. She was torn. She didn’t know what to do. If she took the extra hour to fix the reports she didn’t have the time to catch up on all the back log. She also knew if it was anyone else, she would help where she could, but she couldn’t do their work for them. Roman would not expect her to either. In the end what decided her was the fact that showing him how his work was being affected did the most good to help him last year. So Rand collected all the reports and set them on the desk and gave them to him after his shift. She was nervous and hated it, but it could not continue.
Rand
Roman jolted when she set the reports on his desk as if he’d… maybe not been fully awake. He flipped through the reports and then looked up at Rand as if to ask what’re these? The look on her face was enough to give him the answer. He rubbed his eyes and looked at them again… Like last year, this stack of reports was full of mistakes. Little mistakes, but mistakes. Things he’d return reports to other officers for. He didn’t need to be giving Rand more work. He sighed, at himself, and took the stack, “I’ll fix them.”
~ Roman
Rand nodded, but that wasn’t the point. He was exhausted and things were only going to get worse unless he did something. She wasn’t going to argue with him in the lab though. She was tired and really just wanted dinner and bed. She spent about half an hour with Nibbles before she was ready to go up. They needed a plan for this, but she has spent extra time working and was already sleepy. Making tea that night seemed a monumental task.
Rand
Roman went up to bed with her. He could tell she was already tired, so he offered to make his own tea. He wasn’t sure what to do about his tiredness. Last year, it had been letting Rand help him and agreeing to go to Randy. He was already doing those things. It was a long, hard night for him. After his third wake-up that night, he started to cry and didn’t want to go back to sleep.
~ Roman
Rand held him while he cried. “I’m here, Ròmanach. You aren’t alone.” She whispered to him and rocked a little. It was heart breaking and she couldn’t make this better. Stories and tea weren’t going to fix this. Staying awake all night to make sure she didn’t sleep through it wasn’t going to fix it either. Maybe because she was tired herself, or maybe it was frustration at not being able to make it better or at his own stubbornness, but Rand said what she was thinking. She didn’t hedge though or sugar coat it or try to ease him into the idea. She just blurted it out after several long minutes of his despair. “Roman, this can’t continue. You aren’t sleeping, it’s affecting your work, it’s making you sick, you aren’t eating. Your body can’t handle those conditions. We have to do something. What you are doing isn’t working. You should try the medicine Randy gave me.” She squeezed him tight before he could answer. “I know you hate medications, I do understand that, but the alternative is so much worse.”
Rand
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