<USS Avalon> "What's Important"

"What's Important"
Vevay Davis, Melanie Redgrave, Anna McEntire

When it rains it pours. It was a phrase that her grandmother use to use, and 
Melanie was starting to get a better understanding of what it meant this days. 
Elijah was gone, she'd gotten a note from him that morning. Elissabeth was 
dead, she was still pretty numb over that. I just want the world to slow down a 
little, She thought as she made her way down a long corridor, it doesn't have 
to stop all the way, just slow down. 

Another day, another irritating Bolian, Vevay sighed to herself. Her lonely 
march home was only vaguely lightened by the thought that she might see Ffej 
that evening but when her PADD bleeped, she discovered a small note saying he 
was busy again. Frustrated tears in her eyes, she hugged her arms around 
herself and kept going.

Thoughts of the last week danced in Melanie's head and for a moment she 
actually thought it was making her eyes fuzzy. Blinking away the blur in her 
vision, Melanie kept walking down the hall. She wanted to see Vevay, but wasn't 
all together sure if she would actually stop at her friend's door.

Empty. That was how Vevay felt inside, and it was how her quarters would feel 
when she got there. A shiny new pip with a whole cabin all to herself, just 
another place to feel lonely in.

Melanie stopped. Her vision still blurred and now the hint of a headache coming 
on. Sighing she leaned back against the bulkhead and rubbed her face, eyes, and 
temples. 

As Vevay exited the turbolift, she trudged down the corridor toward home. Not 
looking up, she almost walked straight into Mel. "Shit," she hissed, "I'm 
sorry." Then she really looked at her friend. "You ok?"

"I think so." Melanie replied as she opened her eyes and blinked. Her vision 
was clear but the headache was getting stronger. "My head hurts a bit though."

Placing a gentle hand on Mel's arm, Vevay frowned. "I think you should go to 
Sick Bay."

Normally Melanie would have shrugged it all off since she'd been getting 
unexpected headaches since she was twelve, but this wasn't only about her 
anymore and the sharp kick to her stomach reminded her of that. "I think that's 
a good idea."

Taking Mel's arm, Vevay led her through the crew deck and into the turbolift 
closest to Sick Bay. They whizzed there in no time and as the doors opened, 
Vevay brought them in.


"She's amazing," a young, tall, blonde haired lad was saying to a bemused and 
smirking Anna. "I mean, seriously. Red hair, green eyes, the most amazing..."


"Yeoman Striker," Anna warned jovially.


"Accent. Irish, you know?" Steven grinned.


"I have a vague idea, yes," Anna chuckled. Her eyes lifted and she saw Melanie 
being escorted by one of the myriad Lieutenants from Security. "Hold on a sec, 
Stevie," she said as she walked over. "Melanie? What's wrong?" 

A pat on the arm, an arm wrapped around her own, she liked it when Vevay 
touched her as they walked. "A sudden headache." She told Anna as Vevay helped 
her onto the bed. "And my vision blurred."

"Hmph." Placing a hand on Melanie's shoulder, Anna laid her flat on the bed and 
switched on the diagnostic arm. As it whirred into action, she watched the scan 
results on the screen, her frown deepening. "Have you been under more stress 
than normal?"

"You mean besides the stress of being pregnant?" She teased as she looked up 
into the blonde's face. Then she nodded. "The last week and half hasn't been 
the best."

Anna's face blanched and she nodded, not quite able to respond. Rubbing 
Melanie's arm, she forced a smile and managed to say, "You're suffering from 
high blood pressure. I'm going to get you a hypo to ease it off, but I daren't 
give you anything too strong for fear of harming the baby."

Melanie frowned, panic bubbling inside her. "It's been a little high during the 
whole pregnancy. Is it high enough now to be a danger?" 

Letting out a sad sigh, Anna nodded. "Which is why we need to get it under 
control as quickly as possible." 

Fear lit up Melanie's eyes, She laid there stunned until she felt Vevay take 
her hand, then she took a deep breath and asked. "What do I need to do?" 

"Reduce your stress, which means we need to decrease your activity." Anna told 
her as she applied the hypo. "You need to cut back on work, amount and time 
spent on it, you need to relax more, nothing strenuous. Lots of rest, gentle 
exercise, walking or very mild swimming, but nothing vigorous because high 
blood pressure effects oxygen intake. I want you to monitor your blood pressure 
once a day and we're going to move your prenates to once a week instead of 
bi-weekly." 

Melanie nodded, already trying to figure out how to fix everything so she could 
do what was best for the baby. "And if none of that works?"

"You'll be put on bed rest until the baby is born." Anna answered. "Your 
risking low birth weight, a premature birth, or worse if we can't get that 
under control."

Vevay's face was white as a sheet but she kept Mel's hand in hers. "I'll help 
take care of you," she said in a small voice, "if you don't mind.

Melanie looked up at Vevay and nodded. "I can't lose her too, Vevay."

"You're not going to," Anna told her. "There's some things that I refuse to 
permit the loss of in my Sick Bay."


All Vevay wanted to do was cuddle Mel and tell her everything was going to be 
okay, but she was fairly sure the Doctor wouldn't appreciate it. "Don't worry, 
Mel, I'll do everything I can."

Worry and fear were still clear in her eyes, but Melanie began to relax a 
little. Not so alone in this, remember. "Thank you, Vevay." She said softly. 
"I'm sorry about taking up so much of your time."

Vevay blinked. "Huh?" Frowned at Mel, she shook her head. "You sound like 
you're an inconvenience. You're not."

"Aren't I?" She asked, trying not to pay attention to the sounds of Anna's 
scans. "You've a life of your own and here I am asking you to spend so much 
time with me."

Snorting softly, Vevay shook her head more vigorously. "What life? I work, I go 
home to my empty cabin, I go to bed then I get up to go to work again. That 
sound like a life to you?" She shrugged as she leaned against the bed, her hand 
in Mel's. "Besides, I like spending time with you." In a defiant voice, she 
admitted, "You're my best friend."

Melanie finally smiled a little. "Your my best friend too, Vevay. I couldn't 
imagine doing this without you, with or without Eli around."

Anna smiled to herself as she set out the hyposprays she'd programmed. "Okay," 
she said, her hand resting on the drugs, "you need to take these every day, one 
in the morning," she indicated the blue one, "one at lunch," the red one, "and 
before you go to bed," the green one. "If you miss a dose, just keep going from 
the next one in the schedule but if you miss too many, you'll need to come and 
see me."

"Thank you, Doctor." Melanie replied as she looked at the hyposprays, trying to 
memorize colors and times. "I'll change my schedule at work first thing in the 
morning. Pauly shouldn't have a problem picking up the slack for me." 

"And I'll make sure she takes the one in the evening," Vevay piped up.

Melanie looked over at Vevay and smiled. "Are you sure about this? You barely 
see Ffej as it is."

Vevay sighed as she slipped her PADD out of her pocket and showed Mel the full 
list of notes he'd sent her over the past few weeks. They accounted for every 
single date they'd meant to have. "Like it would make a difference," she said 
sadly.

"Bloody fool." She muttered as she looked down the list of canceled dates. 

Again Vevay just shrugged. "Not really, just knows where his priorities lie."


Anna kept her mouth shut. She knew Ffej a little from when they'd both served 
on the Special Ops team together. He was an odd one, but she'd liked him. Not 
so much now if he couldn't see what he was doing to his girlfriend though.

Melanie shook her head. "Defiantly a bloody fool." She repeated before looking 
over at the doctor. "Do I need to stay or can I go home?"

Switching off the diagnostic arm, Anna stood back. "You can go home. Just stop 
over doing it, would you? I don't want you in here for anything more than 
check-ups, okay?"

"Yes Doctor." Melanie replied as she slowly sat up. Swinging her legs over the 
side of the bed she let Vevay help her down. "Next week then?"

"Bed," Vevay said firmly.

Melanie wrinkled her nose. Her bed was so empty and cold these days. "How about 
the sofa and dinner instead?"

Vevay huffed at her. "Dinner then bed," she replied. "My final offer."

"Deal as long as I get to pick dessert." Melanie teased before turning to Anna. 
"Thank you."

"No worries," Anna beamed.


"So..." Steven began as he saw Anna was finished. "This girl, right, she's 
kinda sorta my superior officer."


Giggling, Anna shook her head. "How can she be 'kinda sorta' your superior 
officer? She either is or she isn't." The pair of them kept chatting cheerfully 
as they wandered through to her office and the door closed.


Sliding her arm around Mel's waist, Vevay led them out of Sick Bay. "You okay 
now?"

"A little worried and a lot scared, but I'm feeling better." Melanie replied 
honestly as they walked, or rather Vevay walked, she waddled, down the hall.

"I'm not going to let anything happen to my goddaughter," Vevay promised. "Nor 
my best friend. They're too important to me."

Once inside the turbolift Melanie put her arms around Vevay as best she could. 
"Your important to us too, Vevay."

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