<USS Avalon> "Eggs"

 Eggs *Lt. Sussanna McEntire* 

Eggs! Who ate eggs in the morning anyway? Trudging into Sick Bay, having 
just spent the past five minutes with her head over the toilet because she'd 
passed the Mess Hall where someone had been having hard boiled eggs for 
their tea, Anna slumped down behind her desk. This was lasting too long. 
Either it was the longest case of alcohol poisoning on record or there was 
something seriously wrong.

What was worse was that she'd woken up to her period. Frowning for the 
twentieth time today, she touched her abdomen and felt the bloating there. 
She was halfway through her cycle, certainly not due and if it was only 
spotting then the level of blood was just too much. She ordered an orange 
blossom tea from the replicator in a very large mug and sipped it carefully, 
the steam leaving a layer of moisture on her face.

"Morning!" called the duty nurse as she bounced in. Rea Lilin took one look 
at Anna and toned her natural enthusiasm down. "You don't look well," she 
said, adding, "again."

"Gosh, thanks for the assessment Lilin," Anna mumphed at the small Bajoran.

"You've not been drinking again, have you Doctor?" Lilin said dubiously. "If 
you keep it up, you could end up with a problem."

"Are you joking?" Anna stared at her open-mouthed. "I haven't touched a drop 
since... Oh God, since me and Annabelle got so legless. I swear I will never 
drink again," she said, letting her head fall to her hands.

"Hmm," Lilin said dubiously. Grabbing a strong black coffee from the 
replicator, the nurse sat back down and eyed Anna with worry.

The smell of the coffee wafted up her nose and Anna flinched. "God," she 
gulped, "could you drink that somewhere else? I've already lost most of my 
breakfast because some arsehole was eating eggs in the Mess Hall."

"And how can coffee make you queasy?" Lilin said, her worry deepening. 
"There's something wrong with this picture."

"I'm fine, just a bit of food poisoning probably." But that didn't sound 
right...

Putting words to the continuation of Anna's thought, Lilin said, "Since when 
does a replicator produce something that will give you food poisoning? Has 
your husband come down with anything?"

"Are you joking? Mac's bouncing around like the world's all perfect. I swear 
that man must wear rose-tinted contact-lenses or something. Either that or 
he's had the rose tint permanently injected into his retina." Sipping at her 
tea again, she held it to her nose to cover the horrific smell of the 
coffee.

Lilin dropped her unfinished drink into the reclimator and picked up Anna's 
tricorder on her way back. "You're ill, you need to be checked out," she 
said as she started the scans. Before they were even half complete, Anna 
grabbed the device and closed it up.

"Don't. I will carry out any scans that need to be done. Okay?"

From the brief flicker of fear in Anna's eyes, Lilin simply nodded. "Do them 
now, I'm going to finish my coffee in the break room." She reached over and 
squeezed Anna's hand. "Let me know?"

"Okay, thanks." Anna watched as the little woman bustled out. Staring at the 
tridorder as if it held the answer to some great ancient mystery, Anna ran 
her fingers over it. What if there was something seriously wrong? The 
thought of telling Mac that she was dying broke her heart. She just wouldn't 
tell him, she thought suddenly. What he doesn't know, won't hurt him. With 
that decided, she initiated the scan.

Glancing at the readout, she gaped. No. Nononononono. "Fuck." Storming to 
her feet, she sent the tricorder flying across her office to smash against 
the bulkhead. "Fuck!"

Lilin stared out of the break room as Anna exploded past, angry tears 
already drenching her face. Choosing to remain in Sick Bay, she carefully 
crept into the CMO's office and picked up the dead tricorder. All the 
remains of the screen said was: pregnant, number of embryos: 5.

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