STF

Side sim: The Follow-Up

Posted Jan. 31, 2023, 9:07 p.m. by Commander Roman Alden (First Officer & Chief Science Officer) (Lucas Foxley)

Posted by Ensign Rand Farquharson (Yeoman First Class) in Side sim: The Follow-Up

Posted by Commander Roman Alden (First Officer & Chief Science Officer) in Side sim: The Follow-Up

Posted by Ensign Rand Farquharson (Yeoman First Class) in Side sim: The Follow-Up
Posted by… suppressed (33) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)
It was a long slow morning, spent in each other’s arms, that stretched pleasantly into the early afternoon. Rand was snuggled up against Roman, head on his shoulder and an arm wrapped around him. They were relaxed back against the pillows watching another The Librarian movie and discussing whether to get food early or wait awhile.

There was a soft knock at the door and when they answered it was Randy. He relaxed a little when he saw Roman was awake. “When neither of you paged me I was worried the tranquilizer I gave you was too strong and you were still asleep.”

Rand

For Roman it had been a long, slow, relaxing morning. A nice change after the recent stress. He was cuddled into Rand, an arm around her and holding her hand with his other one as they watched the movie. When Randy opened the door, he tensed a little under Rand, but still seemed calm. “No, no. It was fine. We were just… Carried away with something else.” Kissing. They were carried away kissing. Roman preferred that. He just didn’t want to know.

~ Roman

Randy’s brows went up, he could only imagine…no he did not want to imagine what they were carried away with. But just because he could, in his sweetest most endearing big brother voice, “Rand, did you get anymore rest after last night?” He looked at Roman, “She said the meds didn’t work last night. She didn’t get the full dose. I’d like to check the hypo and make sure it’s working correctly.” Then he looked back at Rand, “You look like you feel better. You must have gotten rest, yeah?”

He was teasing her, he knew she had not been sleeping. Rand buried her face in Roman’s shoulder and groaned.

Rand

Roman nodded, opened the bedside drawer, and passed Randy the hypo. “I know she didn’t. She had dreams.” When Rand hid her face against him, Roman hugged her and grinned. “It was relaxing, at least.”

~ Roman

Randy grinned, “Relaxing is good,” and gave a very playfully mock worried look. Which was lost on Rand because she still had her face hidden against Roman. “Rand? Are you that tired? Relaxing is good, but if you are worried to sleep I can give you an booster, so you can sleep. It will keep the dreams away.” Oh he was serious about the booster, but he knew she wasn’t tired. While he talked, Randy checked over the hypo to make sure it was working properly and that the tip wasn’t clogged. It was as he expected, Rand had just missed, the hypo was fine. He handed it back to Roman.

Rand was not going to tell Randy she would rather Roman’s kisses to the meds. There were just some things she didn’t want to discuss with him. The small negative shake of Rand’s head was not lost on Randy. He grinned wider. “Unless of course Roman is better at that than your meds.” Rand pressed so tight into Roman her head might have merged into his shoulder and the tips of her ears flushed pink. Randy grinned wider but didn’t laugh when she muttered something about him leaving.

Rand

Roman hugged her, rubbing her back gently, but he was grinning like Randy. Him being better than a booster was an ego boost he quite enjoyed. He glanced down at her when she muttered about Randy leaving, “Come on, he’s seen us kiss before, it’s no big deal, is it?” He was teasing her too.

~ Roman

Now that was the opening Randy needed, “Oh! Is that what you were doing? More snogging. I swear.” Rand groaned, no, no that was not fair. They were both picking on her now. She made some comment about going to get food but only made a half serious effort to get up. Roman’s hand on her back was too soothing. “Oh, good, you haven’t talked to Elbbirt then. You two would be doin’ more than snogging. Let’s keep it that way.” And he shook an admonishing finger at them both. “Yes yes, go get food Rand. Away from him, come on.” Randy was trying so hard not to laugh his eyes were watering.

Randy

“We would? Why?” Roman couldn’t help but ask and then immediately regret because he didn’t want to know. He held on to Rand instead. So much for going to get food, now she was held against him with an iron grip. He managed another grin at Randy. “Away from me? I think she’s perfectly comfortable right there.”

~ Roman

Randy’s eyes widened, “Well, yes of course…” Randy looked at Roman wide eyed like Roman had almost tricked him into telling a huge secret. “Oh no I am not telling you. You snog my sister enough. Nope.” Rand knew exactly what Randy was up to. Was Roman really okay? He could go back to work and his martial arts and everything? Rand wanted to ask, but she was afraid she was wrong.

Rand squeaked quietly, more like an ‘eep’ as he hugged her tighter. She really wasn’t brave enough to get up and walk past them while they were teasing her anyway. She liked him keeping her close though. A reason not to talk to Randy. Randy wasn’t done though. “A bit too comfortable if you ask me. Come on Rand, let’s go. As your big brother I must look out for you.”

Randy

Roman seemed a little stressed. He did not respond to Randy’s teasing him. He did, however, respond to Randy’s teasing Rand. He wrapped his arms around her, making sure to show off his ring. “If anything, I think I’ll have to protect her from you.” He smiled up at Randy.

~ Roman

Randy grinned, “Noooo....Rand? You need protection from me?” Rand laughed very softly. The banter between them made her happy, until they decided to tease her. Then she got nervous. She tightened her arm around Roman. She wasn’t going anywhere. Randy put two hands to his chest. “Oh…Rand…the English over me? I’m wounded.” He cackled the whole way to the door. “I’ll let Elbbirt know yer both awake.” And Randy left.

Randy

Roman liked when she tightened her arm around him. He kept his arm firmly around her and grinned at Randy at his statement. “She has a thing for us English.” Then he tensed, stressed when Randy said he was going to go tell Elbbirt they were awake. He tried to play it off. He looked down to Rand, “Let’s hurry and pretend to be asleep.”

~ Roman

Roman wasn’t the only one who tensed over it. Rand was worried too. She shouldn’t be, Randy said it was good news. She had to do better than this. She had to be the calm one for Roman. She pretended to snore anyway hoping it would make him laugh. Then she looked up at him, moving around a little to sit back up some and gave him a teasing look before she kissed him again. It was a loving kiss that wasn’t long enough. “Randy said it was good news. It’ll be okay.” And she kissed him again.

Rand

Roman smiled but did not laugh. He looked down at her, still grinning, “Perfect.” Then she sat up and he knew what that look meant. He held her close as they kissed and it ended all too soon. He didn’t have the chance to respond to what she said because before he could, she was kissing him again and whatever he was going to say didn’t matter anymore.

~ Roman

Rand decided that kissing was better than thinking about it. That worked great for about an hour when Randy knocked on the door again. He didn’t come in until they let him, but once he did he just stood at the door. “Alright come on. Both of you up.”

Randy

Roman tucked himself further into Rand as if playfully hiding from Randy. He didn’t want to get up from Rand and he didn’t want to face Elbbirt. “Up? Now? What if we need a little more kissing time?”

~ Roman

Randy laughed, “You’re grown adults. You’re engaged, you have the rest of your lives right make up for it. Come on.” Randy was taking no flack about it. “Conference room, come on.”

Rand looked up at Roman, a d decided she would have to move first. She was kinda draped over him. More than that he wouldn’t go if she didn’t. She looked disappointed but she got up because she knew Randy wasn’t going to let them out of it.

Randy

It took Roman several moments after Rand to get moving. He didn’t want to go. Eventually though he dragged himself out of bed and ran his fingers through his hair. He was dragging feet intentionally, not wanting to go.

~ Roman

Rand was dragging her feet too. Taking far too much time to put her shoes on. Randy finally got impatient. “Okay look, neither of you want to do this, but I am going to tell you both what I always tell Rand. Information is good, it helps you make decisions. Talking and listening isn’t forcing you to do anything. Listening won’t hurt, just inform.” He was fighting really hard to not tell them to both grow up. “It’s the conference room, not sickbay. Elbbirt and I are riled of having to come in here to talk while you two are....snogging.” Randy chose that to saying they were hiding in bed like 2 year old.

Randy

Roman did not want to be informed. He didn’t have the words to describe it but the information itself stressed him out and he was avoiding it. When Rand was finished putting shoes on Roman grabbed her hand and squeezed. He was ready, just not wanting to go.

~ Roman

Randy led them to rhe conference room where Elbbirt was sitting. Randy had gotten everyone their preferred drink. Elbbirt barely waited for them to sit. He swore they looked like he was going to execute them.

His heart had healed well, his heart’s rhythm had remained steady and normal even when he had started to stress. But the permanent damage that had been noted when it happened six months ago, was still there, along the heart’s left ventricle. The remaining functional muscle compensated for the damaged portion. He would need to keep the rescue hypo, and keep paying attention to how he felt to avoid causing a problem, though he should be okay for duty and his martial arts. However he would be more prone to heart problems and he should have it checked regularly - during his yearly physicals world be fine.

There was also the possibility that compensating for the damaged part would cause the functional part to fail - in which case he would need a replacement heart. It was a worry for sometime in the future, if symptoms of such a thing began to show themselves. If he had any heart symptoms in the future, they needed to be reported to Sickbay or his doctor, right away. For now, he shouldn’t have any issues continuing to serve nor should there be restrictions on his duties or positions. That could always be re-evaluated should his condition change, which if Roman looked after himself and paid attention to his body, he could lessen the odds of that happening.

“So good news. Your heart is healed, no extra appointments. Randy will make sure your rescue hypo stays current and stocked. You can return to full duty, and your martial arts, and any other activities. Just listen to your body so you don’t end up in sickbay again with worse. Yes, you know how to do that? Both of you? Your hearts, Rand’s head. If you can’t do that for each other, you can watch out for each other?”

Then =O=Cmdr Alden to the biology lab.=C=

Elbbirt sighed, at least he got it all out first.

Elbbirt

“I still need the rescue hypo?” It was good news, honestly it was, that he was healed and wouldn’t need any extra appointments. But Roman’s mind had a way of grabbing on to the bits he didn’t like.

He took Rand’s hand, he was about to say he’d always look out for her, but that was when he was paged and he had to go. Usually if he actually took a day off his staff left him alone unless he was really needed. When he was out in the corridor he breathed a sigh of relief and then headed for the lift.

~ Roman

And just like that he was gone. Randy thought his exit was qorthy of Rand’s anxiety. Rand had to stay and finish with Elbbirt. She had a lot of questions. None of them about her own injuries. Eventually she was able to go back to their quarters.


Franks met Alden at the door. The noise in the lab was loud. The animals were all panicked. “The chinchilla babies are fighting. They are trying to break through the dividing walls.” The cage had been seperated into different sections when the babies got too big to stay together, then replaced so they couldn’t see each other. Apparently that didn’t matter anymore. Their aggression was upsetting the other animals. They were screaming a d screaching and throwing themselves against the barriers, a few were cracked. The goo lizard had covered the entire enclosure with goo and the sick “plunk squish” of more landing Saif he wasn’t done. Mushu’s eyes were dancing and then hiding and popping out again from under the log. Nibbles was in her den and every so often would let out a very terrified squeek. “I thought about moving them into the crimson cobra’s old enclosure because it is bigger, but there is no way to get them out without getting hurt.”

Franks

“We’ve already put opaque barriers in there. They’re probably smelling each other. We need thicker walls in the old cobra enclosure, opaque. Then fill it with the chinzilla bedding.” Roman said. It didn’t take too long to set up the walls and then the partitioned enclosures.

He pulled on a lab coat. He wore the largest size the lab had, and the sleeves barely reached where they needed to for him to be fully covered with gloves. The bite resistant gloves weren’t exactly the best for dexterity. Maybe he could move them without sedating them? He put the gloves on and reached into the first baby’s enclosure…

The animal was far too agitated. As soon as his hand was in reach, the chinzilla lashed out and he had to pull back. He pulled the gloves back off and readied a rodent sized hypo, checking the dose first. Then he put the gloves back on.

The first chinzilla went fairly easily. He reached in, held her gently, got her in the back of the neck with the hypo, then moved on to the next one, giving the hypo time to do its job. The second one went nearly as smoothly.

The third was much harder. Roman reached in, and the chinzilla turned, latched onto the wrist of the glove with his teeth, and began kicking up Roman’s arm. Franks reached in and snatched the hypo, giving it to the chinzilla. It took a moment for the little animal’s grip to loosen and Franks helped release his claws from Roman’s glove and sleeve. The sleeve was torn. The glove looked damaged as well. Chinzillas had a lot of strength for their size, especially the males.

Roman was much more careful with the remaining two, another male and the last female. He was gentle but more firm. It was while he and Franks were moving them to the new enclosure that he noticed how wet his sleeve felt. The lab coat had not been quite as protective as he’d hoped. Once all the animals were secure and managed, he went for the first aid kit on the wall. “Franks, watch them as they come off that sedative, if they start fighting again, call me again.”

Franks was getting ready to call sickbay. Roman had a short moment of panic. He did not want to go, again. But he couldn’t set the example of not following his own rules. He came up with a solution to his problem. “It’s not as bad as it looks, sleeve stopped him from doing too much damage. Call Nurse Farquharson.”

~ Roman

Franks paused, Farquharson? Then it hit him. So that was how you said it. Franks thought it was Far-qwa-har-sen. “Randy.” He pressed the ship’s comm =O=En…” he paused, yeah he couldn’t say it, “En Randy to the biology lab.=C=

Roman moved to the sink and started washing up. It stung. He pulled the gloves off. The right glove was damaged but it had done its job. There was little more than a dent in his palm. The sleeve was torn to bits and stained red. It had taken some of the assault but Roman could tell by the look he was lucky it wasn’t worse. He was hiding his pain, he didn’t want anyone to think he needed more than a bandage. He wasn’t able to fully remove the lab coat’s sleeve.

Randy appeared a minute later, sickbay wasn’t that far. He looked around, “Lt Franks?” Franks nodded over to Alden who was washing his arm in the sink. Randy walked over and looked and swore quietly in Gaelic. “Let’s take care of this in your office. Get the smell of fresh blood out of here.”

Randy used an antiseptic to spray down his desk and then cut the lab coat away. “You need better protective equipment.” He flipped open the med kit and prepped a hypo and gave it to him, “Antibiotic, some of those scratches are deep.” Then he gave him another one in the arm right above the scratches, “Numbing agent. It will wear off in an hour or so, but this will hurt otherwise.” Then Randy began to clean and debride the wound. It was a meticulous process. Then he had to use the type1 skin grafting laser to close up the deeper parts of the lacerations. Then he used butterfly strips on the rest and bandaged the arm. “Rand is going to have a fit.”

Randy

“This isn’t a science vessel, I only get so much space. So many things. Why do you think I don’t risk letting anyone else handle them?” Roman shrugged. He tried to pull away from the hypo but Randy appeared to be having none of that. The next one was too quick for him to argue but after the numbing agent started to take effect he relaxed a little, the pain from the scratches easing.

Randy gave him a look like he was dense. “You are engaged to my sister right? She is the Yeoman of this vessel, and she is a veritable sorceress when it comes to making sure the crew has what it needs? I am sure she can find what the lab needs.”

Roman gave Randy a purposefully dumb look. “Engaged to who?” Then he smiled and shook his head. “She is amazing at her job, but Starfleet Command just doesn’t think I need better protective equipment. The gloves were a fight to get, and I got them because I pointed out I work with aggressive animals.”

Randy started to suggest he tell Rand what they needed and let her deal with it. Instead he didn’t say a thing. If he knew Rand, she would see the bandage and take care of it all on her own.

Then Randy started cleaning it and Roman offered little resistance to that, partly because it was numbed and didn’t hurt. It was when the little medical grafting laser came out that he started to fight. “What is that? Randy, no. No way.”

“It’s a suture. Rather than stitches I’m accelerating the tissue to heal faster on its own. That way you can go back to work on your regular shift. You will still need a bandage the next couple of days to keep it clean.”

Roman still didn’t seem happy about it but he wasn’t about to miss shifts over it. It was number, anyway, if he looked away and closed his eyes was Randy really even doing anything?

When it was finished up and bandaged Roman nodded to Randy. “Thank you.” Then he shrugged. “Occupational hazard. Not the first time it’s happened, certainly won’t be the last.” He poked gently at the bandaging as he spoke, “I’ve already asked Franks to call again if the animals act up again, so I should be good back up and find Rand.”

~ Roman

Randy chuckled, “Oh I didn’t mean you. She’s gonna have a fit that Nibbles is having a scared fit and no one called her about it.” He grinned widely, “Then she might worry about you.”

Randy

Roman grinned, “If I call her now, do you think that makes it better or worse?” Then he shook his head and looked at Randy, “I will have to give Nibbles to her. She’d cry forever if she had to say goodbye to that mouse.”

~ Roman

Randy gave Roman a long suffering look of understanding and patted him on the shoulder. “You will never be able to give any of your animals away. She still cries over that snake when she thinks no one notices. And she was terrified of it.” Then he shrugged, “I don’t think calling her now would make it worse, but is it really safe to have her in there right this second. Rand and the mouse would prefer it certainly.”

Randy

“I don’t have anything else aggressive and five out of six chinzillas are asleep. I am fairly confident Nibbles wouldn’t hurt her, but…” He sighed, “Perhapsi should let things calm down before she comes down here. I don’t need her getting hurt.”

~ Roman

Randy shrugged, “She might actually help things calm down. Either way one of us better tell her what’s going on before she thinks the worst.”

Randy

“I will go up and tell her,” Roman said. That would give time for the lab to calm down before he and she got there. He stood to head up to their quarters.

Randy cleaned up his kit and took what was left of the lab coat to dispose of, then he went to write his report.

When he got up to their quarters, he opened the door and went in, his right arm part way behind him. “Rand? I’m back.”

~ Roman

Rand was pacing. It had to be a big deal if Franks called him on his day off. And of course she had heard the ship wide comm calling for Randy to the lab. Of course it had to be about Roman because for anyone else they would just to a basic medical call. Also, Roman and Randy didn’t work well together, so it wasn’t like they would be calling Randy to help with actual lab work.

Pipkin was nestled in Rand’s arms, the focus of Rand’s worry. The bunny was eating up the attention. Rand was wearing her satin robe. Rand hugged Pipkin closer when the door opened and she turned. She was wearing the nightgown under her robe. Seeing Roman made her shoulders droop noticeably. Rand set Pipkin down on the bed (The rabbit was not happy and thumped the bed with her back feet). The questions fired off rapidly as she made her way over to him and hugged him. “What happened? Are you okay? Are the animals okay? Franks and everyone else? Why did they call Randy?”

Rand

Roman felt the pressure of her hand meeting the bandage as she hugged him. Or maybe her arm, he couldn’t tell. The numbing agent still had some time before it started wearing off. “I’m fine, Franks is fine, everyone is fine. The chinzillas are too old to live how we had them. The enclosures were too small and they were fighting through the walls, so we moved them to a larger one where we could give them- Rand are you…?” Roman broke off as he noticed what she was wearing. It was the night gown. He was suddenly not very focused on what he was saying. “Where uh, they could have more space… Are we celebrating something?”

~ Roman

She had thought to surprise him, but then the call for Randy had come over the comm. She had wanted to go down to the lab but knew she would just be in the way. So she had started pacing, forgetting everything else in her worry. Rand turned red and stammered. “Umm…well…yeah…?” Suddenly realizing the door hadn’t closed yet she tugged him forward so it would, while tightening the belt in her robe. Looking everywhere but his face, she saw the bandage. “Roman?!” She grabbed his arm by the hand and elbow, exquisitely gentle and stared at the bandage, not touching it, and back at him, “What happened?”

Rand

He stepped forward when she tugged on him, the door closing behind him. He smiled down at her. “It was that good of news, was it?” Then she reached for his arm, her touch ever so gentle even as she was careful not to touch the bandage. “Agitated chinzillas don’t make for easy handling.” He commented, offhandedly, like he wasn’t worried in the slightest about it. “One of the babies got his claws in me.” He turned his arm in her hand. Randy had, as always, done a good job treating and bandaging it and it hadn’t bled through the bandaging. “Randy numbed it, but I think that stuff is starting to wear off. It’s a little tingly now.” He wasn’t worried about it. He’d been scratched worse anyway.

~ Roman

Rand looked at him, “You said you were okay.” When he said it tingled she frowned, “Does it hurt? Do you need ice for it?” Then his first question registered and she blushed brightly. “Well Elbbirt said you were fine now, and no more restrictions, that you don’t have to be seen for a year.” Rand remembered when they told her that. It had been a huge weight gone. It had felt like freedom. “That’s really good.”

Rand

“I am okay.” Roman smiled at her. “I’ve had worse. It doesn’t hurt yet, but it will. It’ll be alright.” No doctors for a year sounded really good. Great, really. And he didn’t have to worry about it anymore. They wouldn’t seem him, either. He was going to stay well away from Sickbay. “That is really good. Didn’t Elbbirt say I still needed that hypo?”

~ Roman


Posts on USS Sentinel

In topic

Posted since


© 1991-2024 STF. Terms of Service

Version 1.15.9