Elise knew the blonde nurse was trying to cheer her up and she tried to smile. “You’re very sweet to say that. I…I guess I’d better get ready to go back to him.”
“I guess so.” Olivia smiled. “Come on, I found you something nice to wear for your trip back. I promised I would—remember?”
“Oh yes.” Vaguely, Elise did recall asking for some new clothes for the trip back to Earth. But it seemed like such a long time ago it was hard to remember. “Yes, of course.”
She followed Olivia back to the med station but she couldn’t keep herself from casting one longing glance down the corridor in the opposite direction. The direction Merrick had gone when he left.
* * * * *
“Hey, where did Elise go?”
Liv looked up from entering patient information on her monitor. She was standing at her post near the back of the busy but relatively quiet med station, and wondered how anyone could have snuck up on her. To her surprise, it was her cousin standing there with a covered plate in one hand and a tentative smile on her face.
“Oh hi, Lauren. She went home.” Liv sighed. “Just a little while ago, actually. I was going to tell you guys as soon as my shift ended.”
“Oh.” Lauren’s face fell. “I’m sorry I missed her. I was just coming over to tell her she could talk to me about, you know, what she went through if she wanted. But I guess I waited too long.”
Liv shook her head. “I don’t think she would have talked, hon. I offered too but she put me off. She’s a really sweet girl, but there’s something about her—she’s closed inside somehow.”
Lauren frowned. “Really? From the way you described how she acted with Merrick, I never would have thought that.”
“Oh, Merrick…” Liv sighed. “I’m afraid that’s part of the problem. Things, uh, didn’t really end well between them.”
“What?” Lauren’s amber eyes widened. “But you said they were just getting going. And it’s already over?”
“Afraid so.” Olivia eyed that covered plate in her cousin’s hand. “Hey, are those what I think they are?”
Lauren grinned. “If you’re thinking they’re double chocolate, chocolate chip cupcakes with dark chocolate icing then yes… yes they are.”
“Mmm…” Liv’s stomach rumbled at the very thought and the baby kicked at the same time. “Oh!” she gasped, putting a hand to her curved belly. “I think Junior wants one of those almost as much as I do.”
Lauren laughed. “He gave you a little hint, did he?”
“Kicked me right in the bladder,” Liv admitted. “Now I don’t know whether I want to eat or pee worse.”
“Is your shift almost over? I know we’re supposed to have a girl day later, but you could come to my place and do both. And you can have as many cupcakes as you want. I’ve even got some extra dill-pickle icing to go with them.” Lauren lifted the plate enticingly. “Come on, cuz, you know you want to.”
Liv smiled and gave her cousin a penetrating look. “I guess I can clock out a few minutes early. But Lauren, this is about more than just cupcakes and Elise, isn’t it?”
Lauren looked down at her slim brown hands holding the plate. “Well…yeah, kind of. I wanted to talk to someone about you know, pregnancy issues. And since you’re almost two quadmesters ahead of me I thought…”
“Of course.” Olivia smiled at her cousin’s still-flat belly. “But you’ll be catching up with me in no time. Come on, let me clock out and we’ll got back to your place.”
They made their way through the quiet hum of the med station and Liv was about to clock out when a large hand landed on her shoulder. Turning in surprise, she saw Sylvan standing there looking very upset.
“Where's Elise?” he asked urgently. “I went to her room but I was told she’d been discharged. Where is she?”
“She went back to Earth,” Liv said. “Shouldn’t I have let her go? I thought you said she was okay to be released.”
“I thought she was.” Sylvan ran a hand through his spiky hair distractedly. “But something was bothering me. I remembered one last source on stasis sickness I had neglected to check…” He shook his head. “Well, at least she’s with Merrick. That should mitigate most of the effects until we can get her back up here.”
Liv frowned. “But she’s not with him. He got upset when it came out that she had a fiancé she’d forgotten about.”
“A what?” Sylvan and Lauren said together.