Chapter Five-Life That Is Planned Is Not What Is Intended

Chapter Five

Life That Is Planned Is Not What Is Intended

     Morgan and Reid watched from the hood of Morgan's mercury tracer, Melly Wilkes, gold hair flying as she fell over the finish line. She landed on her elbow in an odd, sickening way, and grasped at her inhaler, which hung around her neck. After an unhealthy number of puffs, she flopped down on her back.

     Reid ran over, and Morgan trailed at a fast stride. Handing her a bottle of water, Reid tried to help her up, but she refused him.

"I...can...get...up. I'm not...incapable...of...that....Just gimme a minute." Her breathing was heavy and ragged and she looked thin to the bone. In the uniform all other trainees wore, you saw the most of Melly. In her normal clothes (which resembled a school uniform, and almost always matched her brothers) she was a girl. Yes, she had breasts. Yes, she had a waist, but all of this went unnoticed. In her uniform, her chest was high, and easily a C cup, and her hips were heart shaped, and legs weren't scrawny as once thought, but perfectly rounded.

     Though of late she was growing thinner and paler. Regardless, she was stronger. Louder. Sweeter.

"How much did you just run?" Spencer asked.

"Two miles,"Melly breathed as Reid tipped the water bottle back down her throat.

"You shouldn't be breathing that hard, Mel." Morgan reprimanded.

"No,"Spencer corrected,"she worked her self too hard. She's untrained and has asthma. She shouldn't be pushed this hard."

      Melanie swatted the bottle away from her mouth at this point. "No, Morgan's right. If I keep this up I won't be able to go back in the field. I'm fine,"she whispered, trying to rise. She wobbled and fell, but Reid supported her. She straightened her self and looked at the both of them. "Really, truly. Let me run one more lap and-"

"No, get in the car. They want us back at the Academy."

"Is that why you picked me up and not Charlie?" she asked them. The boys tried to avoid that.

"He hasn't shown up in the past two weeks, Mel. Ya gotta understand since you chewed him out-"

"I know,"Melly interrupted Morgan. "I'm sure he went back home and talked to mother. My fate will be decided by that, gentlemen. But until then, I wish to remain where I am needed. If I am needed at all."
Reid smiled and placed his hand on her elbow, a gentle gesture of his emotion,"I'll always want you, Melly. Er-need." He smiled awkwardly and looked away. Melly laughed.

"I got it, Reid. Don't be embarrassed around me. You're like my best friend." With that, she tried to skip away from the track, but failed, and simply stumbled toward the car.
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"Will you just leave it be?"
"No."
"But it's making me upset."
"I don't MEAN to make you upset, but I just wanna know."
"And I don't want to talk about it!" Melanie turned up her nose to Derek Morgan.
"What?" JJ asked.
"She won't tell me about her first relationship."
"You don't deserve to know!"
"Tell me. Tell me. Tell me. Tell me. Tell me!"
"Stop-squeeeeeeee!!" Derek had began to assault Melanie with tickles. "Okay! Okay! I swear I'll tell you! Stop it! Stop it NOW!"
     Derek stopped and let Melanie regain her breathe, then looked toward Derek sheepishly.
"You promised." he reminded.
"I know....Promises are just lies with pretty ribbons tied around them."
"Tell me."
She sighed. "I've never... had a boyfriend."
Derek went wide-eyed. "Never?"
"Never."
"You've never been kissed?"
"That is my own doing," she answered. "I've had a few boys try to kiss me. Okay, like, three. But, I just...I want my first kiss to be with my-nonexistent- fiance. I want there to be a promise. I don't want a man to just take it from me. I never...I just...I'm not that kind of girl."
"Promises are just-"
"Shut up, Derek."
"She does have a point." Reid said. He had been quite though most of the conversation. "I think her thinking is good. If most girls thought like she did-"
"No man would get love in America."
Melly patted his back. "You'll survive."
"What does that mean?!"
"I guess you'll-" Melly stopped, and her big blue eyes got big and scared. Her lip trembled. "Ch-charlie?"
"Yeah. How ya been sis?"
Melanie stopped and remembered her reaction to the last time he had asked her that question.
"Why are you here?" she asked.
"Why, I work here, same as you. I'm only in town a day or two though."
"We should get to the office," JJ suggested. Melly nodded.
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Strauss greeted them, which was a shock. She gave a great hug to Charlie, and nodded at Melanie, who returned the stiff nod.
"Of late events, It has come to my attention that a few of you need better training." Melanie looked at her Mary Janes. "The field agents, Morgan, Reid, Prentiss, and both Agent Wilkes shall go. You will be dropped off to a secluded training center where you will survive a week in the woods. Bring only a back pack full of things. Any questions? If anyone asks to stay, they may with the permission of Agent C. Wilkes." She left the room.
"Well I'm not going." Charles Wilkes yelled the second his commander left.
"Why not?" Melly asked, half outraged, half curious.
"I have matters to attend to. Morgan is in charge. Tootles, Melanie dear." and he too left. Melly looked so scared.
"Are you okay?" Reid whispered to her.
"I don't know..."
"Well? Are we ready?" Morgan asked.
"Yes," Melly replied, wiping her eyes, trying to clean up the evidence she had not yet created.
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     The four agents were to spend a week in the woods, with no communication to the world ( this excluded an old, worn down radio brought by Reid). They had to hunt with only what they took into the field. This was survival of the fittest in the roughest form.
"This can't be legal!" Emily yelled when Morgan had shot and killed a deer, then suggested they eat it.
"What other food do you see around her, Em?"
"I'm going to be sick..." Melanie whispered.
"We can't just...it's not cooked!"
"Then make a fire, Emily!" Derek yelled.
     Melanie got up and wobbled into the woods. Reid followed. He found the little girl under a tree, laying back with her eyes closed. Her hair was back in a braid, and several hairs on both sides of her face were falling onto her face. She had on an army green tank top, with khaki cargos. Her favorite blanket/shawl that she never left was tied around her waist. Her make was still done, and it looked queer with the rest of her laid back outfit.

She looks so strong, he thought.

     He walked up to her, and laid next to her underneath the tree.
"Are you alright?" he asked timidly.
"Huh? Oh...yes...I'm...." she looked him in the eyes. "Why do I always pretend with you, Reid?"
"What do you mean?" he screeched, taken aback.
She giggled lightly. "I mean...I try to be so strong. For everyone. I act strong, because I have to be. I don't have a choice anymore. If I cry and cry like I used to...I'd never stop. I act strong around you too...do I have to? Reid, can I be honest with you?"
"Always."
"...I don't like it here. At the BAU. I would've quit after my fight with Charlie but...when I thought of it, I didn't think I could leave you-the team, that is. I didn't want to come here in the first place. I can't stand this. Fighting...I didn't even like the government growing up. They restricted too much."
"...What do you want to do then?"
"...I want to go to NYC. Live there. Be something. Some one. I wanna be a singer. Or a dancer. An artist, an actor, a teacher, a writer. Anything. Reid...I don't belond here. I can't stand this!"
"What?"
"Death."
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It was the 5th night of the expidition and Reid and Melly were laying out in a clearing. There were a few logs (Morgan had found a dead tree) set up around a camp fire. The grass was cool and wet from the dew and it made the softest bed. It would be around 3 in the morning now. Morgan had gone to hunt and Emily had gone for water. The two wouldn't be back for hours. Reid had turned on his little "charming" (as Melly had put it) radio.
     It was a news station and no news had come out of it since Reid had turned it on 3 days ago. All it was was static. Since it was cold, Melly had her shawl out and was laying close to Reid for warm. He didn't mind it like he had the first night. It helped him sleep, someone next to him. She stirred alot, and whimpered a few times in her sleep, but stayed asleep. Reid liked the noses, they were calm and sweet sounding.
     Melly wasn't asleep yet, she was staring at the sky. Reid just looked down at her blue eyes, in which you could see the stars clearly. Or maybe it was just her eyes, Reid thought.
Melanie sighed and moved over to the radio.
"What are you doing?" Reid asked.
"No news is coming out of this Reid. I need some music or I'm going to die. It's too quiet."
"Mel, if we want to pass this-" but she had changed it and went back to him. It was a slow country song.
"I thought you hated this genre."
"Music is music." was her only reply.
     She cuddled closer to him than she ever had, and let her head rest on his chest. He looked down at her. Their eyes stayed locked, and Reid listened to the music.
     It was a band he had heard before. The chorus was "Just a kiss on your lips in the moonlight..." and it kept playing. Melanie's heart seemed to have kicked into the music because the pulse was sincronized to it. She slid up closer to him and pressed her forehead against his. She began to hum, and Reid noticed how pretty her eyelashes were.
"Just a touch in the fire burning so bright..."
Before he could think, Reid did what felt natural without thinking.

He kissed Melanie Wilkes.

The kiss was slow, and her lips were cold. Reid closed his eyes, and he and Melanie both had the same fantasy.

They were in high school. And little Spencer Reid had little Melanie Wilkes and they were different. Different together. She could protect him, and he could make her feel special, and not alone. She wouldn't be outcasted. He wouldn't be teased. They could love each other.

Then the song stopped, and the radio once again produced static. They slowly backed away, staring at each others eyes. The fantasy was too much for Melanie, and she burst into tears. Reid tried to kiss her again, but she turned away. She went over across the camp and held her shawl tight to her chest. Morgan returned shortly later, and she let him hold her that night for warmth, and Emily and Reid layed next to each other, which Reid found exceedingly awkward.

But all night, the two were stuck on the fantasy, and what could have been and what never was.
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"We are never doing that again." Emily sighed. "I never thought I'd be so happy to be back at the BAU."
"Right?" Morgan said. Then looked at Reid.
"Oh, yeah..." it was the first thing he'd said since they'd come home. Melanie still hadn't spoken.
"Well-"
"Hey, Melanie!" some woman across the hall yelled as the four stepped in the elveator. "Congrats!"
"...Thanks?" Melanie said as the door closed.
"What was that about?" Prentiss asked.
"I don't know..."
The doors to the elevator opened and the four were mobbed with sayings to Melanie, most of which she couldn't make out, but when she stepped into the office and all yelled "SURPRISE!" Melly was...so overwellmed. 
"Mom?!" Melanie yelled, walking up to her mother.
"Why, Melanie! Darling, you must've forgoten!"
"Forgotten what? Mother,whats going on?"
"Darling!" she yelled so all could here,"you silly dear, you.

It's your wedding shower!"