The woman was furious. Lydia had just about shouted every curse word imaginable at Melanie when she suggested that the couple find alternate activities on their down time. She even had to force the woman out of her office once "I don't want to see your fucking miserable face again!" was followed by a paperweight projectile that if it made contact with her head, would deliver a major blow that could very easily cause a concussion. She'd never before had a patient who expressed themselves in such a confrontational matter at one of their sessions, but that didn't mean it shouldn't be expected. Once Melanie finally managed to shut the door to her office, she sighed with relief. 

The woman took a seat behind her desk, rubbing her eyes before being momentarily distracted by some books on the shelf. She went on to daydream about a happier past, that which included her now-deceased parents. It's not that her life had drastically changed over these past few years, but the absence of a family--any family, left her feeling a bit empty inside, and she didn't enjoy feeling alone, not anymore. Despite enjoying being the independent spirit that she was, Melanie felt that part of her still needed to care for someone else, to worry about that other person and enjoy making them feel happy. Maybe that's why she cares as much as she does for Carl, aside from the fact that he reminds her of her father. She knew from the moment she began her studies that her patients would mean a lot more to her than they would to someone else in the same position. That's when Melanie pulled up Carl's file on her screen. She scrolled through the many reports and notes she had on him, spent about a minute doing this, up until she got to his main profile, that which was part of a ship wide database which held personal information on every individual aboard the [i]Vitae[/i]. 

"Hm."

Melanie refreshed the page again. "...[i]Carl Stevens Jr., who was posthumously awarded the Silver Combat Medal[/i]". The words stuck with her as she read them over a few times more. It wouldn't make sense for Carl to lie to her about the cause of death of his son, especially since he was killed in action, as any brave person would want to go. But there had to be more to the story he wasn't telling her, and she couldn't help but wonder how serious it was based on his reluctance to divulge this bit of rather important personal information. Surely Carl was well aware of doctor-patient confidentiality, and she couldn't stress enough how crucial it was for him to be completely honest with her. But even then, what did he have to hide that led him to lie about his son's death?

A sudden knock interrupted her out of her thoughts, and she immediately closed the file before rushing to the door. 

"Jonas, hi. You're..." Melanie looked down at her watch "...a bit early."

"I'm sorry," he added, "is this a bad time?" He probably thought she had a patient in the office with her, but luckily he didn't have to worry about that at the moment. 

"Oh no, it's fine. I just thought I'd be able to get a little cleaned up before we headed out." 

"Oh no, it's fine," he smirked with a dismissive gesture. Melanie rolled her eyes in response, shaking her head as she took a couple of steps forward, being now a few inches away from the tall man. She locked the door behind her while maintaining eye contact with him before she looked away.

"Shall we go now?" she asked, her body a bit tense as Jonas refused to move. He had so much confidence at the moment that it was making her question nearly every move she made. It was an odd feeling, one that she didn't enjoy too much, but she knew she wouldn't have to worry about it for long. This was only Melanie's second date since she became of age, and being that the first one was a complete disaster, she never quite figured out how to play that game. Reading about it in articles could only get someone so far if they were lacking the real world experience. But that was about to change tonight. 

"I thought you'd never ask." 

The two left her office and headed towards the Hub, deciding along the way where to go have dinner.