Chapter Twenty-Ardely: Home At Last

Chapter Twenty

Ardely: Home At Last

     "Here she comes," Rossi said in answer to Hotchner's question of attendance. All heads turned the way the SSA agent's was and saw the missing girl. It wasn't like Melanie to be late, Phillip however....

The two were holding hands, laughing. Melanie's gloved hand covered her red mouth. She had on her red cardigan with the white oxford and tie. Plaid tie and skirt with grey knee socks-the same outfit she had worn the first time she walked into the BAU office next to her brother, chewing on her scarlet lips. Phillip tossed her empty coffee cup into the trash can and lead her up the stairs and into the conference room like he did every day.

"How nice of you to join us, Miss Wilkes," Hotchner teased.

"I'm sorry, Proffessor, I was talking in the hallway. Do I get a demerit?"

Hotchner laughed, a rare occurrence.

"Bye, Melbabe," Phillip sighed.

"Phillip, wait," Hotchner said. "This may be a case that interests you."

"Where is it?" he asked.

"Neeses, South Carolina," he said. Melanie dropped her purse.

"Jesus, Hotch! We just got back from Coney and you're telling me something is dreadfully wrong in our home town?!"

"I'm going," Phillip growled.

"Don't tell me anything till I get on the plane. I may want to turn around."

***

"What's the deal?" Melanie asked.

"Around three murders, but your police station is making the biggest fuss I've ever seen."

"Only three? Doesn't surprise me Mr. Klein is making a fuss. His daughter was the the same way."

"Tammy," Phillip said, smiling,"I remember her." Melanie slapped him.

"God, I can't even make a joke."

"It. was. not. funny. Keep going, Hotch."

"They seemed to have the person pegged, but from what I've seen, there's not a speak of physical evidence. They just can't FIND her."

"Who?" Melanie asked.

"A young woman. B-C average in school. Never got in any trouble from the looks of it."

"Who, Hotch?"

"Uh, India Hampton." Melanie's heart stopped, Phillip grabbed her hand to hold her down, but Melly was up and roaring.

"India? India? For God's sake, India couldn't hurt a fly!"

"You knew her?" Hotchner asked.

"She was one of my best friends," Melanie whispered. "And it's not her. She's different from the popular crowd and that must make some people upset but for Christ's sake-"

"Melanie!" Phillip said,"Preaching here won't do you any good, love." Melanie held in the tears.

"It's not her," she whispered, her white face turning green.

"I know. Lay down. It's too early. You're tired."

"Yeah...tired..." she whispered, but she turned to Hotchner. "It's not her."

"We don't know that-"

"But I do, Hotch. Trust me..."

"You know it doesn't work that way, Melanie."

Melanie's sad look wiped away to anger.

"I know."

***

"Audrey!" Melanie saw her old friend, whom she hadn't spoken to in two years.

"Tell them it's not her!"

"It's all I've been saying for the past two days, Melly. God, look at you!...What you wearing?"

"It's called clothes. And see this? It's a skirt. It's what you wear on your legs. You might want to put one on."

"Are you patronizing me about my shorts? God, two minutes here after two years and you're already starting in," she leaned in and hugged her friend.

"And you're too tan. I told you to stay out of the sun. You're going to get skin cancer." Audrey rolled her eyes at her friend.
"But it is true? FBI agent...Definitely never saw that coming...Hey, guess what I heard from my mom. Annette Greywald called-Phillip is coming to town! You haven't seen him in quite some time." Audrey smiled at her friend, eyebrows raised. Melanie stared, then figured it out. Audrey didn't know they were engaged because Madame Greywald and Charlotte didn't know they were. They knew they were together, though, and Melanie would have to play on that. She was thankful Phillip was out of sight at the hotel. Maybe he would move into Ramblings soon, maybe Ardely...Ardely....Melanie had forgotten this. She quickly realized Audrey was staring.
"Oh, yeah, uh, actually, I met up with Phillip a while back. This summer, actually."
"Really?"
"Yeah. He and I kinda...hit it off...again," Melanie's voice went up at the lie, but Audrey seemed to mistake it for nervousness that always hung in Melly's air. Melanie thanked God that she was wearing gloves that covered her ruby engagement ring.
"For your red lips," he had said, slipping it on her finger. Hotchner called Melanie over.
"Melanie, I know how you get and I think, when we have personal cases like this, I can't ask you to work them. Go home to Ardely. See friends. How long has it been since you've been there?"
"Too long. The hotel was full right? That's why Phillip went there to try and get something? Why, there's more than enough rooms at Ardely. And I could at the very least keep an eye on the case, even if I can't work it, and you know you'll need me for some reason, Hotch, especially in this case. I'll ask Mother and it will be grand! Everyone at Ardely...and it is late Hotch, and she wouldn't stray that far from here, she's got a younger brother...oh, Freddy, poor darling!...she loves him so, truly. Oh, come on! Please?"
"Alright, to Ardely."
***
The black suburban was trucking up the drive, when the gate stopped. Melanie sat impatiently until she couldn't stand it. She hopped up and squeezed through the iron gates just as they were swinging open for the car. She sprinted to the top of the hill where the old ivory house sat. Melanie knocked repeatedly on the door without stop and Morgan laughed as he slammed his door shut. Finally the door opened and Melanie fell in.
"Xylen!" she cried, wrapping her arms around the house worker.
"Why...Miss Melly..." he said,"My heavens..." his copper hair was receding and he was a bit plumper around the waist, but still Xylen. He gently patted Melanie's back, not eager about the hug, but missing his Mistress all the same.
"Xylen! Why you makin' that ruckus fo'? Whose at the door..." the old black woman stopped, the candle in her hand flickering, staring at the blonde girl-now a young woman-in the door way.
"Mammy," Melanie sighed. She ran to her nurse maid as Xylen let in the BAU. "Mammy! Mammy!" Melanie cried as the nurse maid wrapped her child in her big arms.
"Miss Melly, child. Look at yous, all grown up and-child, what is yous wearin'?"
"By golly, Mammy! I'm not in town for an hour and already I've had everyone criticize my outifit!"
"Well, when you is wearin' skirts like that..."
"Oh, Mammy, I shall scream!" she cried.
"Later, I is gonna take you to change into your good dresses, Miss Melly. Walkin' 'round, dressin' like white trash..." she mumbled.
"Mammy!" Melanie cried again. "A fine welcome I get! I've only come home to my plantation-"
"Which you ain't been to in two years. Hows you think every one feels when yous don't come up for Christmas or Thanksgivin'? Huh, chile?"
"I am dreadful sorry, Mammy. But that's the past and there's just nothing to do about it now and-"
"Mammy? Who is at the door?" Melanie froze when she heard the tenor voice and straightened her spine. Charles Wilkes stepped out from the stair case and his face looked strained when he caught sight of his sister. They stared at each other for a moment, both had there eyes scared and there posture too straight.
"Masta Charlie, is that anyway to greet your sista?" Mammy yelled. Charles stepped closer and bowed over his sister's outstretched hand.
"My apologizes, Melanie."
"It's quite alright, Charles." Charlie never called Melly by her full name unless it was a serious topic-or he was mad. Melanie wasn't sure. Melanie didn't know why she said Charlie's full name, she just did. And Melanie never did that.
"Welcome home, sister." Charlie said. Melanie nodded.
"It's good to be home."
"Now, if you'll excuse me," Charlie said, leaving his other guests in the door frame. Melanie stared after her brother. She started to turn toward the team, but they were soon interrupted by Melanie's other siblings.
"Is it true? Is it true?!" Little Aggie came first, barreling down the stairs. The boy was almost six and yet was as fast as a rocket. He saw Melanie, and his small blue eyes started sparkling. He screamed as he ran in to hug her. Melanie picked him up and spun him around. His orange hair was cut and neat, but Melanie ruffled it and made it stick up two inches. Kissing his forehead, Melanie's ears heard her younger sister before she saw her.
     Victoria was fourteen, and it didn't surprise Melanie how her younger sister dressed. She had on a fusha sparkled tank top with a short skirt and heels Melanie would cry if she had to wear. Her copper hair was still frizzy, but it was composed into an elaborate braid, the curls at the top of her head threatening evilly. She blew a bubble with the gum in her mouth, and her brown eyes lit up to see her sister. Victoria and Melanie often fought over petty things, but now they were both older and that was behind them. Hopefully.
"Melanie!" she cried, wrapping her arms around her eldest sister, only briefly. "What are you doing here!"
"Duty calls," she sighed.
"Ew. FBI. I couldn't do that in a million years. And look how they make you dress!"
"I dressed myself this morning, Vi," Melanie sighed.
"Oh. Well, that's your fault," Laughed the younger girl as she trodded away.
"Oh, Victoria Hegel, if I wasn't a lady what wouldn't I say to you!"
"But you is a lady and you is gonna have the tongue of a lady!" Mammy said to her Mistress.
"Yes, Mammy," Melanie sighed. "Oh, Mammy, darling?"
"Don't you start with me, Miss Melly! I knows you want somethin'. I'va known you since the first day I putta pair of diapers on ya. Whadda want?"
"Rooms. For my unit."
"Oooo, you is just like your pa! Always doin' 'fore ya askin', ain't ya? Oooie! I remember yo pa did the same thing, brought in all his Ambassador buddies and they all stayed in their chambers and yo Mammy had such a mess to clean up."
"Oh, Mammy, you needn't worry. And if it's dreadful bad, I'll help you."
"You is layin' on yo' flattery thick, Miss Melly, but it ain't gonna work on me. Xylen!"
"Yes?" asked the butler.
"Show these folks to their rooms. And nobody double bunks. Mista Charlie canna bunk with Masta Aggie if he need to and the same goes fo' da girls."
"We won't mind double bunking," Rossi said. "May help in fact. Less space."
***
"What is you wearin'?"
"Goodness gracious, Mammy! You've asked me enough times! It's like your catch phrase!"
"Don't you get angry with Mammy!" The team, who was happily eating pancakes made by Cal in the huge dining room, laughed at Mammy and Melanie who had been playfully arguing since Melanie arrived last night. Melanie had on a creme lace dress with a ribbon in her hair. Her ballet slippers were laced up to her knees.
"You is gonna get freckled."
"Mammy-"
"You tried to hide the ones on yo face with make-up but Mammy sees em." Spencer leaned in to try to see them, but failed. "You go upstairs and put on a high collared dress."
"Howabout a shawl?" Melanie asked.
"Fine. But do something. And a bonnet!" Mammy yelled as Melanie sat down next to her brother, ruffling his orange hair.
"What are you wearing?" Emily asked after the nurse maid left.
"I'm going down to the theatre. They are starting rehearsal today for Faust . I missed auditions but I can still very well be in the chorus. At least I'm finding something to do with my time."
"Uh, hello, handsome rich fiance. What else do you do?" JJ said. Melanie got a napkin to cover her mouth and Reid was pretty sure he caught sight of some milk out of her nose.
"Funny, Jen, funny."
"This house is amazing..." Garcia mused.
"It really is," Melanie smiled,"You honestly can't imagine what it was like to grow up here. Amazing....It's an old Civil War plantation. It's really great. And be careful down here, guys. Sometimes, in the South, they don't take too kindly to strangers. Especially government guys. A lot of people down here are stuck in the past. Oh, and don't believe the rumors."
"What rumors?"
But Melanie was gone.
***
"Audrey, honestly, what did you do last night to get your hair in this many knots?!"
"It's called studying, Melanie, not all of us chose to be freaks and graduate early."
"They gave you the option, too. You should've taken it. India did-"
"And look at you two now. One of you is off at Quantico doing a job she never imagine she would do and the other is being hunted like a buck. I'll stick it out here in senior year for another month." Audrey smiled as Melanie brushed back the girl's curls into on pony tail over the rest of her falling hair.
"I honestly can't believe the costumes..." Melanie sighed, looking down at her tapestry like skirt with slits up each side, and the top of the same material which was nothing more than a brassiere.
"Guess who's performing in the chorus with us?"
"Uh, I saw Christine and Carla. I saw Tommy, but thank God he didn't see me. I saw Niall and Zayn."
"Phillip Dufour! God, you two should so date again! How cute would that be!"
"He's defiantly handsome...What about you and Tommy?"
Audrey stared at her friend,"What about him?!"
"You two would be cute together," Melanie sighed as she placed the dress-band into her hair.
"I can't stand him!" Audrey sniffed, as they walked out to the wings, putting the rosin powder on their slippers. Melanie leaned back as far as she could go, until she was in a bridge position. She smiled.
"Been awhile since you did that, huh, Melbabe?" Melanie fell down at the voice.
"Tommy, for Christ's sake-!...Phillip," Melanie smiled. She needed to talk to the boys. Now. Luckily for Melanie, Mr. Rickman called for Audrey.
"I need to talk to all of you. Now."
"What do you need?" Zayn asked.
"Mother didn't tell anyone about our engagement," Melanie informed Phillip in a hushed whisper.
"So?" he asked.
"So, there's a reason for that. Have any of you told anyone?"
"...Don't believe so," Niall said. The rest of the boys agreed they hadn't, even Phillip hadn't informed Madame Greywald because he thought she already knew. She didn't know.
"We have to keep it a secret," she whispered to her fiance. Phillip pulled her away from the group.
"But I love you," he whispered, leaning in to kiss her.
"Stop," Melanie whispered. "We'll talk about this tonight. Bring your Mother and sister over for dinner at Ardely. We'll talk before then. "
"I love you," he whispered again.
"I love you, too."
"...When are you ever going to let me kiss you?"
"When I know I'll never forget it."
***
"Whose the prima donna?" Melanie asked Audrey. The ballerina's had just rehearsed for an hour and were getting a break. The girl was shortish. Her blonde hair peeked out from under her turban on her costume. Her eyes were black under the gold and blue paint on her face.
"Hon," Audrey smiled,"Can't you tell? It's Charlotte."
"Charlotte Greywald?!"
"She'd been performing somewhere in New York, she said."
Melanie scoffed,"Yeah, New York state. She was in Coney performing vaudeville strip teases." Audrey gaped.
"Are you serious?"
"Yes!"
The two girls fell apart laughing.
Mr. Rickman came in a few moments later, two strange men in tow. He gently stopped the rehearsal, asking pardons from all.
"I'm sure you've all heard of the rumors of my imminent retirement. I can now tell you, they are all true. I would now like to introduce your two new owners. Monsieur Fray and Monsieur Lon Carlin." The two men bowed, and Melanie laughed at the other ballerina's talking on and on about how rich the two much be. "This is Mister Phenshee, our leading Tenor for three seasons running," the fat tenor bowed," and Miss Greywald, our leading soprano," Charlotte bowed and smiled at them sneeringly. However, the two men did seem to be fixated on some of our more busty ballerina's. Disgusting. Charlotte immediately started in.
"Your two new managers are more interested with dancer girls and that's perfect because I will not be singing!" the two managers looked at the former for help. He pushed them along to grovel in her path. The girl was upset and would come back in time to save the show. But the new managers didn't know.
"She will be coming back, yes?"
"Who knows?" Cried the director of the orchestra.
"Surely there is an understudy-"
"Understudy? There is no understudy for La Charlotte!"
"...Isn't their a rather marvelous aerie in act three of tonight's performance?"
"Yes."
"Melanie Wilkes could sing it, sir." Melanie stared at the man in the back of the room. Charlie.
"A chorus girl? Don't be silly."
"Don't be so sure, Monsieur," Phillip Dufour-the theatres patron-spoke up," she has been well taught."
"Fine, let's hear you sing." Melanie stepped forward.
"From the beginning of the aerie, Mademoiselle."
Melanie stepped again timidly toward the front of the theatre, but she felt the stage lights and it made her stronger. Much stronger. She began gentle with her song, leading up to her strong and pure voice. Charlie smiled in the darkness of the back of the theatre.
"Think of me...think of me fondly..."
***
"I just can't believe it, Mother!" Madame Greywald patted her daughters head. "Why wouldn't he tell us? Melanie Wilkes is pale faced ninny and I hate her!"
"We must respect Phillip's decision, my dear." Anette left Charlotte by the river at the back of Ramblings with that.
"But...it can't be true,"Charlotte sighed,"Phillip loves me."









I know that wasn't much, but it is an intorductory chapter. Things are about to get epic. Be prepared.