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It had been a good morning. A great one at that. Perfectly done ramen with two boiled eggs for breakfast, Amy had even managed to finish a couple of paintings, organize her art supplies after they’d been left strewn along her desk for god knows how long, and even woken up feeling refreshed for once. But it was in the middle of just hanging out in the Promenade with Jake and Nog that things took a sharp turn south. That sudden gush, the heart attack that followed, and a small cramp building in her gut.
”I forgot to turn the stove off.”
She’d spat out before hopping up and making a mad dash back to her quarters. The boys were left to their confusion as they followed.
“What’d you think that was all about?”
“I don’t know. Amy?”
Cursing under her breath, Amy quickly got up, smithing her clothes back down and praying to whatever deity was listening that neither of their sense of smell was acute enough to catch on.
”Yeah?”
Leaning against the door frame, she projected as much ease as she could, despite the blood stained into her pants and the stabbing in her abdomen.
”You okay? You kinda-“
“Oh yeah! I’m.. fine.”
Slamming her right fist into where she approximated her uterus to be, she tried to play it off best she could.
”Why does it smell like blood?” Nog asked.
Biting the inside of her mouth, she tried to stutter out an explanation.
”Well, you see- I uh… what that is is-“
“Period?” Jake cut in.
”Yeaaahh.” Amy drawled, cringing internally.
”Okay, we’ll just- give you a couple of minutes.”
Corralling Nog back into the hall, Amy closed the door and went back into the bathroom to change into some fresh clothes, still cringing, but more externally.
“For a week?” Nog hissed, like what they were talking about was in some way sacrilegious.
”Yeah, I think it’s better if Amy were to explain it.” Jake said as the door hissed open and Amy walked out in a turtleneck, t-shirt, and grey capris, a satchel slung over her shoulder full of art supplies and a water bottle.
”Okay, we’re good. But I gotta go down to Bashir and get some ibuprofen, so I’ll meet you guys at Quarks?”
Agreeing to it, Amy quickly bopped into the infirmary.
”Hi, is Doctor Bashir in?”
“Right over here!”
He was holding up a vat of… something while coming out of the surgery room.
“What is that?”
“Believe me, you do not want to know.”
Bashir noted, nervously staring at the thing bubbling ominously under the lid.
”I’ll take your word for it. And um, do you happen to have any ibuprofen or something similar lying about?”
“You don’t have a prescription, do you?”
Amy shrugged at the question.
”Never really needed one to be prescribed, just got a suggested over-the-counter thing and hoped for the best.” She explained as she leaned against the bio-bed, letting her satchel swing against her leg.
”Well, at least this’ll be quick.”
“Lunch with Garak again?”
Raising a brow, he quickly administered the ibuprofen.
”How did you know?”
“Word gets around fast.”
“Dax?”
“Who else!” She called back before jogging off towards Quarks.
“No longer dying!” Amy chirped as she slid down to the table where Jake and Nog were seated. The boys seemed to be uneasy about something.
”What is it?”
“What’s a period?”
The suddenness of the question made Amy choke on her water, sputtering for a moment before looking at Jake accusatorially.
”Your sure you wanna know?” Amy asked, slowly turning back to Nog. ”Eh, can’t be that bad.”
Oh, she was gonna have a field day with this one.
”Well, don’t say I didn’t warn ya.” Rummaging through her satchel for a moment, she pulled out a small red notebook and read from it.
”Menstruation is the regular discharge of blood and mucosal tissue from the inner lining of the uterus through the vagina. Symptoms include breast swelling and tenderness, tension, bloating, acne breakouts, and leg, back, or stomach cramping. Should I go on?”
Amy made no attempts to hide the shit-eating grin on her face at Nog’s visible horror and disgust.
”English, please. I think you broke him.” Jake nudged.
”Okay in layman’s terms, for a week of each Earth month I’ve gotta deal with vaginal bleeding, cramps, excessive amounts of hormones that either make me pissed off to no end or cause me to be incessantly horny and just overall cause discomfort, pain and absolute misery, happy now?”
Amy and Jake waited a second before Nog made a pained noise and curled into the chair.
”Heh, you good?” Amy poked.
”No, I- ugh, a WEEK?!”
“Pfft, yep! A whole week of that if you’re gonna end up in a relationship with a human woman!” Amy chuckled.
”How do even-“
“Keep it clean? Well, it’s between shoving a stick of sandpaper up there or sticking a freaking pillow to your panties.”
At that point, both of the boys were cringing and Amy was having a blast with it.
”At least your getting an early heads up.” “Doesn’t make it any less gross!”
Shaking her head in amusement, Amy leaned back into her chair.
”That’s human biology for ya. And ‘least you don’t have to deal with your genitals bleaching your underwear.”
“What?”
Shaking her head, Amy repositioned herself to be perched on the seat of the chair.
”When a woman’s pH levels are balanced, the acids can cause the fabric of the underwear to bleach.” She explained.
The disgust on Nog’s face seemed to clear away somewhat into something more thoughtful and contemplative.
”What happened the first time?”
“Not fun.” Amy stated, quickly going serious.
And it truly wasn’t. At the time she wasn’t fully aware of it and thus when it came, she’d assumed the worst. Cringing away the thought, she decided to have some mercy on the boys and change the subject.
”Still, my dad and I are gonna be trying a new bread-making technique and I was wondering if you guys would want to join us?” She asked shyly.
”Didn’t you stay it’s all sticky though?” Nog pointed out.
”Yeah, but it’s nice seeing something you put so much effort into coming out. And you’d just need some hot water to get the dough off, it’s not that hard unless it’s, well, hard.” Her half ramble finished, she waited for an answer.
”Well, why not?” Jake spoke up. A small smile poked onto Amy’s face at the agreement.
”9:00?”
“We’ll be there.” And knowing the boys, it was bound to be a mess.