The First Catch

Chapter 23: Falling To Pieces

It had been two weeks since Melanie's feud with Anthony.  Since then, luckily work had been keeping her busy some more so she couldn't dwell on their last meeting.  However, this evening, it seemed to be unusually slow on the floor.
Melanie had been sitting at the front desk, waiting for any calls that might come in, or listening for any alerts should one of the patients need her help.  Since Rachel was needed in surgery this evening, she had asked Melanie to cover for her on the floor while she was working in the operating room.  Melanie rested her chin on her hand looking rather bored, and with some time off to think, she began to dwell on what Anthony had told her. 

He was wrong about things.  She thought perhaps she could be with him at some point.  Just..  She couldn't right now, and if she was able to find a way to tell him why, because of what happened with Paul, he would be more understanding and give her the time she needed.  She bit her lip at her thoughts letting out a small sigh.  They hadn't really hung out much, but maybe Levi was right that she tell him what was going on.  She just couldn't bring herself to speak about it.  She suddenly began to feel very tired.  Wanting to block out the thoughts, she closed her eyes in an attempt to think of something else, forgetting for the moment she was at work.

"Melanie..  Hey.."  She flung her eyes open and jumped back hearing her supervisor speak to her.  She had been expecting Rachael to still be in surgery.  "Yes?"  Melanie asked looking confused a moment.  Rachel narrowed her eyes a bit watching her closely.  "Hey..  Are you okay?"  She asked looking a bit worried.  For as long as she knew Melanie, she was never one to fall asleep on the job.  Before Paul's accident, she had always been very focused at work.  With everything for that matter.

Melanie nodded.  "Yeah.  I'm fine."  She stood up off her chair.  She hadn't heard one of the resident's beepers going off in one of the nearby rooms, since she had accidentally fallen asleep.  "Did you need help with something?"  "I called a few times into the walkie talkie.  I need help in one of the rooms getting the patient ready for bed.  The others are busy so they can't help me.  I just finished up in surgery and walked out when I heard their beeper.  She was trying to get out of bed on her own.  She said it was taking too long for someone to get there and she thought she could do it by herself.  I surely hope that I am not going to regret taking Victoria's advice in giving you another chance."  Rachel stated.  Melanie wasn't really supposed to know that Victoria and her had even been speaking of such possibilities.  As Victoria was worried Melanie would get mad at them at the thought of taking her off the team.  Victoria knew that Melanie loved her work here.  And it was really all she had left that she enjoyed doing.  Victoria worried that if Melanie lost her job as well as her husband.  She would lose all progress that she had made and spiral downward.  Victoria was very certain that if that happened again, they wouldn't be able to bounce Melanie back.  But unfortunately Rachel said what was on her mind, and she sort of just let those words slip out.  Rachel knew what Melanie was going through, so she was trying to give her the benefit of the doubt.  But it was hard.  There had been some very close calls involving Melanie.  She also had decided to take Victoria's offer and give her one more chance, because besides Victoria, Rachel thought that Melanie was one of her best nurses and she hated to lose her on the team.  Melanie felt her cheeks go red.  She was unaware that Rachel had even considered such a thing.  She certainly didn't want to leave her job.  She hadn't meant to fall asleep.  "I'm sorry.."  She mumbled.  "It won't happen again."  All Rachel did was give Melanie a small glare as a warning.  Letting it slide for the time being.  Hoping that Melanie was right, that it wouldn't happen again, because she would have no choice but to take things into consideration.

When Melanie had finished her shift, she made her way home, sneaking into the house so she wouldn't wake Victoria and Levi since it was late.  Making her way to her room, she didn't even bother to get her work clothes off and fell face first onto the pillow and falling fast asleep.  She had been getting fairly tired lately this past week.  But she assumed that was because she was working a few days in a row for night shifts again.  Even with her being used to them, they still tired her out.