The Second Catch

Chapter 10: The Cold Truth

Melanie slowly woke up from her nap, making a small glance around.  She momentarily forgot where she was.  She was still getting used to being at Anthony's place.  For the past two months she had been there more than not.  Melanie thought it was strange how at first she always tried to avoid being with Anthony.  Now she could pretty much say that she was staying, moved in at his apartment.  That they were almost inseparable.  She didn't have a lot of things there, most of them was still at Victoria and Levi's, but she usually kept a bag of extra clothes there.  She had agreed to let him help her even though she didn't like it.  But Melanie felt like she should owe him something, for helping her, even though Anthony said she didn't need to.  So she thought the best way to repay him was to stay at Anthony's so he could help her during the pregnancy.  Plus Victoria and Levi had gotten rather busy at work so they had barely been at home, and Anthony thought it would be better for her to stay there should something happen and Victoria and Levi weren't there to help.  Melanie wasn't sure she liked the idea at first.  She knew that Anthony would do what he could to help, but she didn't exactly want to interfere completely in his life.  However, with Victoria and Levi being busy, Melanie was sort of getting lonely in not having a lot of company to visit with.  So Melanie had agreed that she would come to hang out on some of the days that her friends were the most busiest.  From there, it seemed that Melanie was staying at Anthony's quite often, even when Victoria and Levi weren't busy working.  Melanie had gotten used to the routine of being at Anthony's, so she had kept to staying there more often.  Even though Melanie wouldn't admit it, she also agreed with Anthony that it might be best that she was around someone should something happen, especially with what happened in her last pregnancy. 

She felt a little more tired that day than usual, so she took a few extra moments to get out of bed to get ready.  While she was getting ready, she felt a wave of nausea hit her and suddenly felt some pain.  She quickly gripped onto the countertop of the bathroom cabinet sink and took a few deep breaths, closing her eyes and hoping it would pass.  Contractions?  This early?  It's only three months in.  She had been quite worried lately.  She wanted everything to run smoothly this time.  Anthony had to remind her once in awhile she needed to relax, which was one thing the past few days she managed to get.  She took another few deep breaths as the pain began to get stronger.  "No..  Not here.... Not..  Again!.."  Of course the one day that Anthony was called into work.  She thought.  Beginning to get rather worried.  Since the pain and nausea wasn't lessening, Melanie began to make her way back to the bedroom so she could get her phone to call Anthony.  But the pain only seemed to get worse and she couldn't move or do anything except try to take some more deep breaths.

She kept her hands gripped on the counter closing her eyes.  "Hello?  Melanie?  I'm home!"  Melanie hadn't even looked at the clock when she woke up and not realized she slept till noon.  Anthony had come home for dinner break so he could check on her.  She was concentrating on getting rid of the pain so she didn't quite hear his voice.  It felt more distant to her.  She wanted to say something to let him know she was there but she couldn't.  Anthony glanced around nervously, worried something had happened.  He didn't see any notes and usually she left one if she left the apartment.  "Mel!"  She could hear the worry in his tone so she knew she had to try and speak to tell him where she was.  "I'm..."  But it came out more as a muffled sound instead before she felt herself collapsing to the floor.  She let out a small groan as she could feel the pains still hit her and felt her arm smack against the cabinet door as she fell.  "Mel!"  Hearing the thump of her fall worried him more and he quickly rushed to where she was, immediately kneeling down and wrapping his arms around her.  "Hey what's going on?"   Melanie glanced up at him with fear in her eyes.  He noticed she was a bit on the pale side.  "I think something is wrong."  She whispered before going unconscious.  Anthony grew very concerned.  He quickly reached for the phone in his pocket and dialed for the ambulance.