Melanie was sitting with Wesley in his quarters. He had invited her for dinner and he had replicated her favourite dish, Sauerkraut. They were sitting there and talked until the doors opened and somebody entered. Wesley got up and checked on the visitor.
"Hi mom." Melanie's eyes widened and she suddenly remembered that Dr. Crusher wanted to come home this day.
"Hello, my dear." A bag was dropped to the ground and she heard steps coming towards the sitting room.
"Mom, I just warn you. Melanie is here." Melanie bit her lip and smiled shyly. Dr. Crusher didn't smile when she shook Melanie's hand for greeting. The gaze she gave her was as cold as ice.
"Hello Dr. How was it on earth?" The eyes of Dr. Crusher lost a bit of her coldness and condescend herself to make a half smile. It was obvious that she was jealous about her.
"Very interesting, thank you." She turned around and stored her suitcase in a shelf near the main door. Melanie tried hard to think of something to say that didn't upset Dr. Crusher, but she couldn't find anything. Obviously Dr. Crusher was thinking the same, because she stood motionless in front of the shelf before she said anything.
"Melanie, I was away for a whole year. Maybe I spend some time alone with my son." Melanie bit her lip to avoid any stupid commends. Instead she turned to Wesley and gave him a kiss. Dr. Crusher's face froze.
"Remember, Data's birthday party is up on Thursday. Rina is so excited about it. You don't need to bring a gift," she said and hugged him before she turned to the door and left.
She came out of Wesley's quarters and went to hers. Kathi was already busy browsing through various PADDs.
"Melli, there you are." She greeted her and pointed at a chair opposite from her.
"Guess what. I've found a perfect gift for Data." Kathi raised an eyebrow.
"I hope it's not something too embarrassing."
"No, it's not. You do know that the cat of Ensign Rotora got kittens? She tries to find somebody who could take one or two and thought Data might like a little cat." Kathi finally looked up from her PADD and widened her eyes.
"A cat? Are you sure?" Melanie nodded. Kathi was obviously thinking about it and nodded too after a while.
"Well, so be it. Data's getting a cat for his birthday." Melanie smiled and went to her room.
For the next two days both of them tried as much as possible to keep the kitten away from Data. Since he was on duty most of the time and in the night he was out with Kathi, it was very easy. On the second day Melli was playing with the cat when she thought of something that was missing. 'I think I name you Spot.' Little Spot wasn't noticing the change of its name. Instead it jumped after the little piece of rope Melli was swinging over its head. From the living room she could hear Data coming home and quickly hid the kitten in its basket under her bed. It was also very tired from playing and fell asleep instantly.
Melanie activated the odor absorption field around her bed – which Wesley had programmed for her – and went out of the door to greet Data.
"Hi Data."
"Hi", he mimicked her. "Dr. Crusher informed me that you have missed your physical examination today. She asked me to send you to sickbay."
"Oh Scheiße." Her mood dropped to a new low. "Can't Ali do it?"
"No, she cannot. Dr. Crusher insisted on doing it herself."
"Gottverdammte Scheiße, diese blöde Kuh", she cursed under her breath.
"Watch your language, young lady", he scolded her.
Melli rolled her eyes and left their quarters without saying another word.
In sickbay, the only person she saw was Alina who gave her a look of compassion. "Go on in, Dr. Crusher is in her office. Don't worry she won't kill you."
Melanie responded with a forced smile and went to the doctor's office. Dr. Crusher was looking down at her computer when she entered.
Melanie cleared her throat and the doctor looked up. "Hello, Melanie. Please sit down", she said and pointed at a chair in front of her desk.
She did as she was told while Dr. Crusher got up and started scanning her with her tricorder. "Melanie, I wanted to talk to you about Wesley. He's very preoccupied with his application for Starfleet Academy."
Melanie knew what was coming, but played dumb. "What do you mean?"
"It's about your relationship with my son. I don't want you to interfere with his future."
Melanie still said nothing and tried to look confused. "Come on, Melanie, you know exactly what I mean."
"No, I don't", she replied, but they both knew it was a lie. "Don't play stupid. You're spending far too much time with him and I want it to stop." Melanie had expected something in this direction but she didn't expect this.
"You can't be serious. I love him." Dr. Crusher smiled a mother-like smile which drove Melanie mad.
"You have to understand I love him too and if you see him outside of class again, I'll make sure you two don't see each other again." Melanie got up and stared at her angrily.
"You wouldn't dare." Her eyes filled with tears but she was able to hold them back. Dr. Crusher on the other hand straightened her back and glared back. "Sit down! I'm not done." She did so but kept her angry face.
"You tried to keep us apart once and it didn't work. So why do you think it's working this time?" Dr. Crusher put her tricorder away and she could see that it was hard for her to stay calm. However, just a second later her face turned bright red and she started shouting:
"WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?" Melanie shrunk a bit.
"The second officer's daughter?"
"OUT…NOW!" She got up as fast as possible and left. Outside the door Alina was still standing in front of her monitor. When the doors opened and Melanie came rushing out her jaw dropped.
"What in earth have you done to make Dr. Crusher this angry?" Melanie shrugged her shoulders.
"Well, Dr. Crusher tried to forbid the contact between me and Wes and I told her that it won't work because she tried it once and it didn't work than. Therefore it won't work this time."
"And she got angry?"
"And she got very angry! But she didn't slap me, which is a good thing." Alina shook her head.
"Well, that's some improvement. I just hope you can survive being separated from Wesley."
"Oh trust I won't stay away from Wes."
"I guess nobody thought you would."
"See you then, I'll go before Dr. Crusher comes out and finally decides to kill me."
"You know Melanie, that's probably the best idea you've ever had." She tucked out her tongue and left. On the way back to her quarters she detoured to Wesley's.
"Hi, what are you doing here?" he said. Melanie went straight to the sofa in the living room and pulled him down.
"Oh Wesley, I've screwed up a lot," she said and hugged him tightly.
"What have you done this time? Is it about my mother?" He stroked her hair and brushed a few strands out of her face.
"Mhm," it came from her with her face deeply buried in his chest. "She said I mustn't see you again."
"Oh dear Melanie, darling, what have you done?" She laid her head on his lap and pulled her leg onto the sofa.
"Your mother ordered me to sickbay this afternoon, but I didn't respond so she asked Data to make me go there. And then she told me that she doesn't like our relationship and I told her that it won't work to separate us because it didn't work the first time and then she got really mad." Wesley said nothing but continued stroking her hair. After a while he move downwards to her neck and tickled her a bit.
"Wes, if your mother catches us having sex only minutes after forbidding our relationship she'll slaughter us, both of us." He just laughed and caressed her breast.
"Young man, if you don't stop, I'll have to sleep with you eventually."
"What a serious threat. I'm getting scared." He threw her over his shoulder and carried her to his bedroom.
Half an hour later Melanie came back to the living room where she had left the major part of her clothes. Wesley followed her only wearing a sheet.
"Wes, I should go. Kathi and Data might grow suspicious."
"Alright, I'll send you a text when I'm off duty and my mother is on." She smiled, gave him a kiss and left.
Back in her quarters, Rina and Data were watching Silent Hill in the living room. When she entered, Rina lifted her head out of Data's uniform.
"Melanie, Data told me you left an hour ago. Where have you been or better asking what have you done." Melanie rolled her eyes because she wasn't in the mood to tell her story one more time.
"Long story short: Dr. Crusher forbade me to see Wesley; once again. And after that I went to his quarters and we ended up in bed."
"Dr. Crusher is so going to kill you if she ever finds it out."
"Well, if she ever finds it out and if you two guys shut up about it, she never will. I'm going to bed."
This is the start of a very long row of tricky situations; Melanie is about to go through, so enjoy!