Chapter Six-The Past and Forced Future of Melanie Wilkes

Chapter 6

The Past and Forced Future of Melanie Wilkes

     "My what?!" Melanie yelped. Her mother grasped her forearm tightly and Melanie flinched, but recovered quickly. Something she had learned to do.

"Dear, Dear, Dear! Everything just slips your mind, doesn't it?" her mother hissed.

Melly's eyes were wide, and full of warity. "Oh...yes...I just...I was ready to tell everyone yet. I so thought it was next week! With all the planning going on-"

"Yes, I know, I know." Her mother kissed her forehead.

"Where..." Melanie looked down and afraid. "Where is...he?"

Her mother looked her in the eyes. "He's waiting for you in Strauss's office."

"...O-Okay...I'll-"
"Hurry, Melanie," growled her mother in a sickeningly loving tone, giving her daughter a shove.

     Melanie half ran and half stumbled to her aunt's office. Her mother gave her a good push if she was going to slow.

The team watched in shock. Reid was green and Emily had gone pale. Morgan looked like he could punch something.

Emily looked at her team. "What just happened?"

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Mrs. Wilkes lead her daughter into to Strauss's room, and Melanie had been looking down the whole time. She didn't want to see him, this man. What was happening? Her world was crashing around her. And the kiss she had shared with Reid, could never happen again.

"...Melanie?"

     Her head snapped up. She gasped and whispered God's name in vain. She took in the familiar face. His shoulders were still thin and sweet, the way they had been when they were young. His gold hair was tucked behind his ears because it as a pinch too long. His bright blue eyes were still kind, regardless of the hardships he had faced with her. He was the past she thought she would never see.

"Phillip?"

He smiled, and her heart melted. It's Phil...my Phil, he's alive... He chuckled. "Yeah, it's me." He laughed again, a little harder.

"What?" she asked.

"You."

"Well, that was rude."

"No, just...you...your expression." he sighed. "Melanie...you're all grown up."

     She stepped closer to him, and let him take her little pale hand.

"Phil, it's just, I haven't seen you since-"

"Yes, I know. Since the summer before," he looked at her eyes and she nodded knowingly.

"Alright, Master Phillip, I'll leave you to explain the situation to her. Make it swift, you have 10 minutes." Mrs. Wilkes left with that.

     Melanie was lead to a chair by her new...fiance.

"Phillip...what's happening...what's going on?"

He avoided her eyes, but glanced once and found he couldn't turn away.

"I, uh, came back to town next week. After I took you...there...I had to leave. I went back to France. I thought you'd have come home by then. But, you weren't."

"I skipped a grade."

"So, I'd heard."

Melanie sighed. "She doesn't know you helped me escape?...Phillip?"

"No, Melanie! I didn't tell anyone! I could go to jail for that, did you know? We both could."

"But everyone knows..."

"And you have the pass! Mel, I just..."

"...Continue, Phil."

"...I showed up at your house. Aggie answered the door. Of course, he didn't know who I was. He was too young to remember me. He got your mother. I spoke to her for a while. Charlie was there too. They had been...giving each other...odd looks. Your mother asked me if she could speak to my father. After a series of phone calls-which I tried and failed to listen to-she told me my father was interested with an arranged marriage. I'm coming into my manhood in France. I'm going to take office soon. I need a wife to come with me. Your mother is worried too, Melanie. She's worried your not going to find anyone. You know you have trust problems, Melanie! And you don't talk to anyone!"

"You haven't seen me in six years!"

"And has anything changed? I know you must be stronger. I got your letters, and I know what happened. I wanted to come-I really did. But Father was sent back to France....I had to stay. I don't know what else to say but we don't have a choice in this. It's not the end of the world. I'm not that bad." he teased her.

     Melanie chuckled darkly. "I just...she should have warned me. I just...It still hurts. The thought of it...anything can remind me of what happened. I'm almost always caught off guard by the nostalgia of it all. It scares me...Phillip, I still have the dreams. You here...it makes...hard. I really missed you, Phillip...I wasn't sure if you had lived after you left me there. They weren't kind to strangers...."

      He looked at her strangely. "C'mon," he said, taking her hand," your mother wants you dressed and down there. She has a dress waiting for you in your office. She's waiting to do your hair and make-up. But I still think you're beautiful without it."

"Did you ever forget about me?" she whispered.

"I never gave up on you, Melanie. Ever."

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     Melanie returned to the fray a few minutes later. A bridal shower in the middle of the Quantico office was not ideal, especially for Melanie, who did things excruciatingly traditional. She emerged secretly from her office wearing a beautiful white dress, coated in black lace. Her hair was up intricate swirls and the ponytail was done in spiral curls. Her eyeliner seemed to dark, but faded throughout the night. She danced with everyone, mainly her future husband, whom she whispered to through tout the night.

     Reid just stared. He  couldn't believe what was happening. She kissed me...and it was a lie....Reid looked like he could cry. The song stopped and Melanie's fiance excused himself. Melly looked around, looking lost and scared to be alone. She turned down a hand to dance, then another, then another. Then she saw Reid.
     Reid pretended he didn't see her, and her wiped his eyes with his back to her.
"...Reid?" he heard her little meek voice, the same one that had nervously apologized for her brother the first day they had came. They same voice that cried when she admitted to him she wasn't strong enough for this job. This little girl...who had  been strong enough to lie and to break his heart. "Reid, please talk to me. I don't...." she sighed. "I need to talk to you about what happened." He didn't respond.
    She sat down next to him, and began to speak. "I didn't want to talk about what happened. I was going to pretend it didn't happen. It...Reid...that broke my heart. I felt it breaking. There was too much...whatever was in...it. It was too strong for me. I could succumb to it, Reid. I had to...go...I'm sorry..."
"That you lied?"
"...Lied?" she whispered. "Oh...Oh, God...there really is no way I can explain this with out getting in trouble....I can't tell you what is going on in my life, Reid. I can only tell you that it isn't fair to me or you or anyone. I can tell you I didn't plan it and I don't want it."
"...What does that mean?"
"Well-"
"Sissy!!" Melanie's baby brother-who was no more than 6-came up and asked to dance, no doubt a deed requested by his mother. Melanie and Aggie danced for a good 5 minutes, before her mother took the stage and asked the two stars to take the center floor.
"Melanie, Darling, I do believe Mast Dufour has something to ask you!!"
"Dufour?" Morgan whispered to Reid.
     Melanie watched soberly as Phillip got to his knees and pulled out a golden ring with the biggest rock ever seen.
"Melanie Wilkes, since the day I met you, I thought...well, I thought you were different, that's for sure. I learned to love you...you learned to tolerate me. Somewhere down this road, we both learned to love each other. God, has sent me a gift, Melanie. It is everyday with you. I want everyday to be a gift Melanie. I'm letting down my guard and the future is in your answer. Melanie Wilkes, will you marry me?"
     Melanie looked at him. There was hardly an expression. Then a weak smile appeared, and her little bright red lips began to quiver. "Yes," she whispered, then began to sob. He picked her up and spun her around. They held each other so tight, and Melly was worried that she may break in half.
"Did you notice something?" Emily asked Reid. "He never kissed her, she never kissed him. Not once."