One Day at a Time - (Season One)

Chapter Sixteen: Eggs really are the WORST

True to his word, Nick took Lukas and the dog out for a walk less than ten minutes later. When she finished making the tuna-pasta salad, Marty made up two plates and brought them up for the Salazar couple.

"Gracias, cariño." Griselda murmured gratefully. The older woman's face was barely concealing her pain; Grisleda's ankle was hurting her something awful, and it had only been getting worse.

"De nada." Marty smiled at her softly, trying not to show any pity on her face as she passed the other bowl to Mr. Salazar.

The man nodded gratefully as he took the offered food, "Si ves a Ofelia, dile que la estoy buscando."

"Vale." she agreed. "No la he visto desde esta mañana, pero la enviaré aquí si la veo." before turning around and heading back downstairs. Marty only briefly stopped outside to yell at Chris that lunch was on the table if he was hungry, before serving her own bowl and tucking in.

Chris slinked in five minutes later and grabbed a bowl before bolting back outside with a small, "Thanks."

The teenage angst was practically wafting off him. Marty only rolled her eyes before turning back to her meal when she heard Lukas's giggles and Nick's familiar timber as Pingu barked excitedly. She quickly served two more bowls as they walked in.

"Yay! Food!" Lukas cheered as he plopped his butt down in the seat next to hers, "I got really hungry. Pingu likes running a lot."

"Oh," Marty asked coyly, "Really?"

"Yeah!" Lukas was enthused as Nick pulled a chair across from there's and began eating with a wide, tired grin on his face. "Pingu saw a squirrel an-and he went woosh! Right, Nicky?"

"Yup!" Nick groaned, "He almost yanked my arm right off. I had no idea he could go so fast." The table erupted into giggles at that statement.

After an uneventful lunch--with much begging from Pingu, who apparently loved fish like his namesake--Marty put the leftovers away for the others so it wouldn't spoil, since Mr- Travis, Ofelia and the two female Clarks still hadn't made an appearance before washing everyone's plates. Lukas was happily building with his legos while Nick got some sun as he took a break outside on a lounge chair-- the older had taken his pill, which almost always made him sleepy, so Marty wouldn't be too surprised if he simply knocked out. The sun had been potent all morning, so Marty figured that she might as well start taking down the dry laundry from the line and folding them before M-Madison got back.

She worked in a peaceful manner, getting into a rhythm as she unhooked an article of clothing from the line and folded it before gently dropping it into the laundry basket at her feet. Once she was finished with her laundry -including her brother's and Nick's as well- Marty transferred the folded laundry to their corresponding places before going out to get the other pile of clothes from the line.

That was when she saw Liza and a strange woman that she hadn't seen in the neighborhood before hovering over Nick. Lukas tugged onto her sweater, making Marty look down at his wide eyes, "She made Griselda cry."

When on earth had Liza brought that woman upstairs into the house?

Marty patted his unruly locks in what she hoped was a comforting manner, "It'll be okay, Lukas, go inside for now, squirt." She did not want Lukas around the stranger, especially when Marty didn't know what was going on.

Her brother only eyed the strange women in the yard surrounding Martina's boyfriend -that was a weirdly pleasant thought even in the privacy of her own mind- with trepidation before nodding uneasily and heading back into the house with Pingu. Marty could hear the woman asking Nick about Methadone as she examined him.

"Well, I would love Methadone if I was trying to kick, which I'm already doing." he stated somewhat sleepily as the woman shined a light into his face.

"When's the last time you used?" the black-haired woman asked.

"Uhhh," Nick pondered as he rubbed the bridge of his nose, "I don't know. When did the world end? Couple of days before that."

Martina cautiously walked closer to the group, her grip tight on the temporarily empty laundry basket. She gave Nick a worried glance that he tried to pacify with a small comforting smile, but the woman's meticulous and no-nonsense attitude as she continued examining Nick only made her stomach flutter in a bad way.

"What's this?" Martina heard Mr- Travis' voice question as he walked up behind them.

"Overdue house calls. I'm Dr. Exner." the black-haired woman offered.

The man blinked, "Oh, Travis." he introduced himself, "Can't tell you how happy we are to see you. Um, is there something wrong with Nick?"

"No, I'm fine." Nick denied off-handedly, "But your ex-wife, man, she's a NARC. Told this lady I was the neighborhood dope fiend."

Marty tensed at that information and eyed Liza with mild anger. The stranger had been asking about Methadone, but it hadn't occurred to her until now that she shouldn't have known about that at all. Nick grabbed her clenched fist and rubbed Marty's knuckles in a comforting manner, making her relax again somewhat... which seemed to have been his goal considering the tiny smirk he sent her way. Marty only huffed softly in response, making the male Clark grin in amusement as Dr. Exner took his temperature with the weirdest-looking device she'd ever seen.

"Ninety-eight point six. I'm gonna check your blood pressure." the woman stated after the thermometer beeped.

"So are you the one that decides who goes to this facility?" M- Travis asked.

Facility? What facility?

"Well, I have some help, but yes."

"Like Doug Thompson?" Travis questioned.

Dr. Exner never looked up at the man as she took out a blood pressure gauge and began fastening it to Nick's arm, "I can't discuss other patients."

"Excuse him. He worries about everyone else." Liza explained before turning to look at her ex-husband face to face, "Your friend is in good hands. Just like Hector Ramirez, just like Griselda will be, and if Martina here is sick, so will she."

What? This time Marty didn't hold back and sent Liza a scathing glare. Sick? She wasn't sick. Why the hell was Liza telling this complete stranger about her? It wasn't like Marty had been throwing up non-stop for days or had shown any sign of being ill before this morning. Hell, Marty had even explained it to Liza, short of telling her that she was pregnant, of course, that the smell of eggs had been what triggered her gag reflex.

"You okay, Nick?" Dr. Exner asked her statue-still boyfriend.

"Yeah, um, yeah, yeah. Uh, Marty's not sick." he stated bluntly, lips pressed together.

"Liza says that she saw her throwing up this morning. It could just be a stomach bug, but I still need to check her out and make sure everything is fine." Dr. Exner explained as if Marty wasn't standing right there beside them. "Your heart rate's elevated."

"Well, wouldn't yours be too if someone accused your girlfriend of being sick?" Nick retorted immediately with a pointed look.

Marty barely withheld the urge to smack herself in the face and just run away from the disbelieving and accusatory looks that Liza and Travis were both throwing at her now. This was not the way she would have preferred to come out with that information.

Then again, it was one less thing she needed to hide now.