In Season 5 or 6 or whatever, freshly minted Attending Physician Dr. Frank Langdon, now in charge of scheduling, realises just how much this department over-relies on Mel.
She loves to help, both her colleagues and patients, so she's first on everyone's list when asking to swap shifts, she's the first person that gets called when they need ad hoc cover, she's somehow almost never ill, she's happy to do a double when a shift is short staffed, she's not precious about any particular holidays.
And they've been hanging out, it's not that Frank doesn't know Mel works quite a lot, but he (maybe naively) assumed she's saving for something, or trying to get a downpayment for a place together, something that would make this a temporary state, a hustle for a goal.
But no, it turns out she's been at this pretty much since she got here, and it's a miracle she doesn't seem particularly burnt out by it, but she does just seem to have a lot of energy, especially now that she's got a more balanced social life. Still, he knows from experience that this place will burn you out if you let it. So the next time they have a call-out, he says no when Dana suggests they call Mel in. And maybe it's selfish because he actually has plans to meet her for DnD after work, and he doesn't want a sick colleague to get in the way of Mel's campaign prep, but he makes a point of keeping an eye on it in the future.
On the morning after he first sleeps over, Mel is dead asleep next to him, hair fanned out everywhere, boneless in his arms when he sees her phone light up. He grabs it before it can start to vibrate and ring and answers it on instinct. It's Dana.
"Mel's not coming in today," he tells her.
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