Chapter Twenty-Eight-You've Past the Point of No Return

Chapter Twenty-Eight
You've Past the Point of No Return

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

     "If Melanie sings, it is the chance to ensnare our clever friend."

"Go on, Vicomte."

Phillip smiled at the opera house managers. Melanie sat in the corner of the parlor room, Charlotte, and Niall on the other, neither speaking.

"He'll have to watch her sing," he said. "What gratification would he get otherwise? Melanie is an obsession, and he's going to take great care to watch her sing again."

"So, if he's there-"

"The doors will be bared. The police present. We are certain they're armed. The curtain falls," Phillip slapped the chair. "His reign shall end!"

***

Anette Greywald sat rolling out the curls of Melanie's hair for tonight performance, which was only 45 minutes away. Hotch and Reid were going over procedure with Melanie should she spot him in the audience. Her anxiety was growing by the minute. The dressing room felt cramped and packed-the way it had been when she was a chorus girl. In a way, Melanie like it. But being a prima donna wasn't the same. You get the glory, but you get it alone.

   Melanie's dress was only a black corset, with white thin sleeves that kept falling off the shoulders. There was a bright red rose in between her breasts, and a larger one in her curly gold hair. The skirt was a yellow-gold wrap around. Very thin. Very short. She was barefoot, and she carried a basket of red roses onto the stage. Her only prop before she would be seduced by the main character. Melanie sighed aloud at her disgusting role that Damien had left for her.

     Spencer came forward a few minutes later and slipped something into her hands. Melanie looked at him, confused, then opened her palm. Two ruby earrings, and a gold chain with a single ruby charm in the center.

Spencer leaned down to hug her, then whispered,"Do not take these off. No matter what happens. Understand?"

Melanie threw her arms fiercely around him in reply. "Yes," she said firmly, then kissed his cheek. "Thank you." she said in Hotchner's direction. "For everything."

As Hotch was leaving to give Melanie a moment to talk to Reid, Phillip came in. Hotchner sighed.

"Philly," Melanie whispered, throwing her arms around him.

"You look beautiful," he said, making his hug brief. "We're going to get him tonight, Melanie. I'm going to make you safe."

Melanie took a step back. "You don't understand, do you? He'll find me tonight. He'll take me. We'll be parted forever. He won't let me go!" Melanie turned away from him to grasp the make-up counter.

"Melly, you said your self that he was nothing but a man. But while he lives, he will haunt us till we're dead."

Melanie turned, and ran her finger down his cheek bone. "You think it would be easier to say goodbye now."

Phillip laughed hard. "It isn't goodbye, Melly. I will see you after the show. I promise."

Melanie nodded. Phillip kissed her on the cheek one last time. "Break a leg, Melly." Melanie nodded, walking out after him. He was gone when she entered. The cast was waiting for their entrance in the wings.

"There she is!" Tommy said, wrapping his arms around her. Melanie gagged at being compressed. "Whoops. Forgot my own strength," he said, smiling evilly. Melanie rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, whatever."

"Melly," Audrey sighed. The two girls embraced tightly. Audrey's eyes were watery now, the way Melly's had been every other hour for the past...well, most of the time Reid had seen her.

"Be careful," she whispered to her friend.

"You too," Melanie said, kissing her cheek. "All of you."

"Break a leg, Melbells," Tommy said, punching her shoulder. Melanie kissed his and Zayn's cheek.

"If I can't do my turn later, it's your fault," she said, sniffing and wiping her eyes.

Spencer came behind and gripped Melly's shoulders. "Let's get you to your mark," he said. Melanie pasted Niall on the way, who was playing her lover.

"You'll do great," he said.

"Thank you, Niall. You will too. You may need to whip me on the spin though. I think Tommy just broke my shoulder."

He smiled. "Will do. Break a leg."

"Break a leg."

***

Melanie nervously watched the chorus exit the stage after their number, and it was her turn to enter.

Melanie stepped into the light, and looked up at the box seats as she sang. She found Phillip.

"...Dreams of life..."

Okay, she thought, Tommy and Zayn are behind me. Niall should be entering soon-

The curtain fussed behind her upstage. She swallowed. Why was she so nervous?

She knew why.

"Master," Tommy said, no doubt bowing.

"Passarino-go away, for the trap, it is set, and waits for its prey."

Melanie stiffened, and continued to play naively with the roses in the basket. She heard to the two boys exit up stage right and Niall's boots click until he was in her peripheral vision. Melanie turned slightly as he began to sing. She swallowed before looking back down at the flowers. This man's hair was dark, his voice was deep, and he was two feet too tall to be Niall.

"You have come here
In pursuit of your deepest urge
In pursuit of that wish which till now
Has been silent
Silent."

Melanie rose from her crouch to tuck a hair behind her, and stare at the stranger who was no stranger. They wanted her to check the crowd. They never said on stage. Melanie looked again. Phillip hadn't noticed anything yet. The cops hadn't. Reid was in the wings, looking not the least bit worried. She bit her lip.

Her masked lover stalked ever closer, singing in her ear.

This has to be a dream...

"I have brought you
That our passions may fuse and merge
In your mind you've already succumbed to me, dropped all defenses
Completely succumbed to me
Now you are here with me
No second thoughts
You've decided
Decided."
He ran his hand down her arm, and Melanie shivered. She locked on his dark eyes, and her inside's melted.
"We're two of the same," he had once told the 13 year old Melanie, small and meek and confused. And she had believed him. Just like she was now.
"Past the point of no return
No backward glances
Our games of make-believe are at an end.

Past all thought of if or when
No use resisting
Abandon thought and let the dream descend."

Melanie gasped as he wrapped his arms around her waist, letting his hands explore her arms and sides.

"What raging FIRE shall flood the soul
What rich desire unlocks it's door
What sweet seduction lies before us?

Past the point of no return
The final threshold
What warm unspoken secrets
Will we learn
Beyond the point of no return? "

Damien backed away, looking at Melanie, breathing hard. It was a question. He wanted an answer. Melanie found Phillip, who nodded at her. But he didn't know what was going on. She would have to tell him. She would have to ask.
Melanie was falling into the trap in order to get help.

She took in a deep breathe before she began.
"You have brought me
To that moment when words run dry
To that moment when speech disappears
Into silence
Silence."
Melanie looked back at her fiance, who still didn't know. Melanie turned from fear to rage. He couldn't help her. He wouldn't if he could. Melanie turned back to Damien, still looking arrogant, eyebrows raised.
 "I have come here,
Hardly knowing the reason why
In my mind I've already imagined
Our bodies entwining
Defenseless and silent,
Now I am here with you
No second thoughts
I've decided
Decided."
Melanie didn't need to look back at Phillip to know he was catching on. Melanie drug her hand down the side of Damien's face. He closed his eyes, loving the touch of her skin on his.
Melanie smiled evilly.
"Past the point of no return
No going back now
Our passion-play has now at last begun."
Melanie laughed as she playfully tossed back her skirt, and fluffed her hair. She accepted Damien's hands on her body and she smiled as she sang. Phillip was confused, but he was coming into realization slowly.

"Past all thought of right or wrong
One final question
How long should we two wait before we're one?

When will the blood begin to race
The sleeping bud burst into bloom
When will the flames at last CONSUME us?"
Melanie giggled as he ran a trail of kisses up her arm and under her hair. His hands ran up her legs. She didn't care. Sin was consuming her. She didn't care. She wanted this now.
Their voices melted together perfectly, keeping the audience stuck to their seats.
"Past the point of no return
The final threshold
The bridge is crossed
So stand and watch it burn
We've passed the point of no return."
They held each other at center stage, hands all over each other. Screaming, passion flowing from them. Phillip was crying from box 5.
   No one could hear as Damien whispered in Melanie's ear, her eyes widening and saddening. She looked out at the audience, looking from face to face. She had all seen them at one point, all met them. She had grown up here. Melanie turned to him, and put her pale hand on his face. She mouthed the words,"I'm sorry," to him, but not before she grabbed hold of Damien's black mask and pulled.

Damien's skin was badly burned and distorted. The audience gasped. He stared sadly at Melanie, but it soon turned to hot anger as he grabbed hold of her and ran off the stage. Spencer, who was the only guard backstage, immediately followed where they should've been.



But they were gone.

Spencer heard the audience's screams before he saw them, but he had to wipe away his own tears first.

Melanie had been right, she was going to be taken. The only connection they had was in the red ruby necklace.

He prayed she didn't take it off.

It was the first time he had prayed in years.

But he had to, because after all this, God had to harbor some mercy for the girl who had no love given to her. No hope.



Chapter Twenty-Seven-Guardian Angel

Chapter Twenty-Seven
Guardian Angel

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

     Melanie went to her room that night, feeling lost and confused. Her mother had a suitor. How...how...inappropriate! And Mayor Barly?! Just plain...inconsiderate! Melanie noted that there was an orangish tinge to his hair. Could he be Aggie's father? This man, could he have been sleeping with her mother while her father was alive. Melanie's head spun. Melanie ran to the mirror, trying to find some trace of her father in her face. Melanie didn't have his square nose or jaw. The high cheek-bones belonged to her mother. The golden hair and arched eyebrows were another product from her maternal side. Melanie forced herself to lock onto her blue eyes, which some people had described as a 'scary, shocking' blue. They were electric, seeing the intensity in them. Melanie saw now herself.

     She had dark under eyes and her skin was paler than usual. Her mouth which had never been able to frown (she had tried. The muscles in her face simply did not work that way) was drooping downward for the first time. Melanie shucked off her wet dress, and noted that she could see her ribs through the pale, paper skin. Melanie felt uncomfortable, and when a knock at her door sounded, she was relieved to know Mammy was offering to draw a bath for her.

   Melanie wrapped her shawl around her and opened the door. She stood mouth agape, back at her brother.

"Are you okay?" he whispered. Melanie let him in quickly. Slipping behind her changing shade, she found a long dark grey frock. It was long sleeved and cotton and Melanie scooted under her bed covers. She sighed when her brother yanked away her soaked shawl, throwing it over her changing shade. He curled up on the foot of her bed.
"You okay?" he reiterated.
She nodded stiffly.
"I can't believe her..." she whispered.
"Believe it," he huffed, emotionless.
"Did you know?"
Charlie shook his head.
"...Do you think he's Aggie's father?" he whispered. Melanie shook her head, blinking away the tears.
"I don't want to think of that," she whispered hoarsely. "I just want to sleep. Maybe I'll be tired enough not to have any nightmares."
Charlie nodded. "I'll send in Morgan tonight. Okay?"
Melanie nodded.
***
Melanie returned around 2 the next day after the first rehearsals for the unwanted opera that Damien had written. Each rehearsal was private. Extremely private.
"Hello Gustave!" Melanie crooned as she saw he and Aggie rolling around little cars on the rug in the living room. She lived him into her arms. "Give your best sweetheart a kiss!" she said, and he pressed his chubby red lips to her cheek.
"Darling," Phillip whispered from the corner. Melanie smiled as she crossed the room, and two melted in each other's embrace. Standing on tip toe, Melanie sighed as she molded their lips together, even if for the briefest of moments.
When they parted, he stared at her longingly, letting his forefinger trace over her bottom lip.
"You can't stay long, can you?" she whispered, taking his hand from her face. He sighed.
"...No. I just came to pick up Gustave."
Melanie sighed, and looked at their locked hands. His knuckles were white as they gripped her small, soft hands. Melanie's hands looked like paper in his big apricot ones. She tore her hands away and whispered a goodbye as she slipped up the stairs to be alone.
***
Melanie came down after Phillip and Gustave had left, and Reid eyes widened as he turned to see her. It was the barest she had even been.
Melanie was wearing a rose pink and white striped bathing beauty swim suit. It had sleeves to just before her elbows, and pants to her knees. There was a skirt, which puff out just long enough to wear you could see the pantilettes hiding below. The neckline was low for Melly, but not low enough to show any cleavage, nothing more than her clavicle. Her gold hair was in floppy bun with gently waves popping out of it. Mammy was furious and on her faster than anything.
"What is you wearin?"
"A bathing suit. I'm going swimming."
"It's to cold to go swimming!"
"It's only September, Mammy darling," Melanie said, brushing past, white towel hung delicately over her arm. She smirked.
"The pool?" Mammy asked. Melanie frowned.
"The public pool? Heavens no! I meant the lake-"
"Just what you need. Ta get sick from that lake-"
"Mammy, I won't-"
"Or drown. Or worse."
"Worse?"
"You ain't goin' swimmin" Melanie bit her red lip.
"What if Spencer watches me?" she exclaimed, looking at him hopefully.
"What'll he do?"
"Make sure worse doesn't happened to me. He's saved my life many times, Mammy. Maybe Dr. Reid is like my Angel." Melanie put a hand to her mouth, as if she wished the words hadn't come out. Mammy looked sadly at her.
"...You can go swimmin'...long as Docta Reid is with ya."

Melanie ran off the rotting dock and into the clear blue lake. It was cloudy as the wind blew, and Spencer relaxed under the huge maple in the yard that shaded half the lake. Melanie's head bobbed back up, and she spewed lake water from her mouth like a fountain, hitting Reid.
"Hey!" he cried out. Melly laughed. Spencer tugged on the sweatshirt he had been wearing. He ripped it off, showing his white tee shirt underneath. Melly smiled, splashing him again.
"Why are you-!"
"Get. In. the water." she said, smiling evilly. Spencer stared. What was that gleam in Melanie's eye?
"Why?" Spencer asked nervously.
"You can swim," was her reply. "Get in the water."
"Melanie-"
"Please?" she asked, her blue eyes getting big.
Spencer's brows furrowed as a grin formed. "I didn't know you could be this evil," he said.
"I don't have a suit."
"You don't need one."
He stared.
"I meant swim in your clothes."
Oh.
"I can't, Mel. I'm watching you, remember?"
Melanie pouted. Reid wondered if this was Melanie used to talk to her father. The pout slipped slowly as Melanie sunk into her thoughts. She slipped under water slowly, not taking in enough air to last 20 seconds.


Let alone the minute she was under. Reid stared after 30 seconds, and five seconds later, his feelings turned to cold fear.
"Melanie?" he asked. "Melly?..Melly! Melly!" Spencer splashed into the water, it was cold as it assaulted his nose and skin. Melanie was floating in the middle of the water, eyes closed and very still.

Creepily still. When Spencer moved again, Melanie's eyes darted toward him, and she smiled. She pointed up, and they both rose.

"What the hell was that?!" he screamed, swimming over to her. He wrapped his arms around her shoulders frantically. Melanie accepted his embrace, but her eyes were searching and sad when he pulled away.
"What is it?" he whispered, still holding on to her.
"I wanted to see if it was true," she said. When he looked at her, she elaborated.
"I wanted to see if you were my guardian angel. Instead of one that killed for me or hated me."
Spencer stared, he knew she was talking about Damien and Charlie.
"I would kill to protect you," he whispered.
"Don't do that," she whispered, looking away.
"I would-"
"Don't, please...I'm not worth that...I'm not worth that."
"...Let's get you inside."

Chapter Twenty-Six-Higher Council

Chapter Twenty-Six
Higher Council

 

 

 

 

 

 

     Mammy made a little nose from where she sat in the chair next to Melly as Melly's eyes fluttered open. Mammy pulled the wet washrag with which she had been dabbing Melanie's forehead with and smiled at her child.
Melanie sat up, grasping her head as she did so. Reid watched her timidly glance around, until she saw Phillip, who was staring out the window into the darkness of Ardely's yard. She approached him, her hands on his shoulders. He turned, brows furrowed. He was sober and upset and ashamed. Mostly, though, afraid of what Melanie would say. She slid her arms around his neck, and finally, smiled timidly. She leaned up to kiss him on the lips, and he kissed her fervently back, his arms around her waist.
"I love you so much..." she whispered.
"Thank you..."
Melanie pulled away, and smiled. She tripped as she stepped away, holding her head with her hand, using the other to steady herself against the wall.
"I'm dreadful tired Mammy. Tonight has just been so...hectic. Could you help me to bed?"
"I'll do it," Reid said, hopping up. Mammy stepped between Melanie and Reid.
"No you isn't. I gotta help Miss Melly undress and get ready for bed. You can come in after she's...decent." Mammy grumbled as she lead Melanie up the stairs about how in her time, men were never to be in a woman's room alone. Melanie smiled weakly, her head in her hands.
***
"Hey," Reid said, shutting the door behind him.
"Hey," Melanie replied.
"Phillip is sleeping in the hall, by the way. Watching the door. Mammy said she's rather have me in the room than Phillip."
"Because I can take you in a fight," Melanie said.
"Cannot," Reid grumbled, cheeks turning pink in the dark. He leaned over and sat on the corner of Melanie's bed. He moved to put his hands into her hair and it fell down her back. He leaned forward as he touched it. Melanie giggled lightly.
"You like my hair..." she whispered.
"I do," he said sheepishly, running his hands over the gold again.
"I love you,"Melanie blurted out. Spencer stared. He couldn't see her face in the dark. "You're my best friend," she whispered. "You really are. Just...thank you...so much...for everything." Spencer could hear her start to cry.
"Melly..." he whispered, not moving from his spot, unsure what to do. Melanie leaned and collapsed on him, her sobs ringing out. "I'm so frightened!"
"Shhhh...you're going to wake the whole house. You want Phillip to hear you like that?" Melanie pushed her head into Spencer's neck, muffling her voice. Her nose was cold on his skin and her red lips were wet on his neck as they accidentally brushed the skin.
"I'm sorry..." she mumbled.
"Why are you apologizing?"
"I'm so frightened. I can't protect anyone like this. I'm worthless. I'm a mess. What can I do for anyone? Nothing. I can't rest. If I..." her voice trailed off.
"Yes?" Reid asked, hesitating.
"I just need to talk to someone."
"Who?"
"A good man. Tomorrow. Go to sleep, Reid. If anything happens, I know you'll wake up and protect me. I won't go without a fight."
He smiled at Melly in the blackness. A hand caught his wrist as he sat up, and he felt Melly's cold lips touch to his palm. A pleasant shiver wracked his body as he slipped his hand from her's. He took her small couch where Melanie herself would've had her legs dangling over the side. Melanie smiled when Spencer's breathing slowed and got louder. He was finally asleep. He didn't notice Melanie rise from the bed and dress in a black sparring gown, just as Phillip stayed snoring in the hall as his fiance strode past.


Phillip did, however, here a horse cry out in the yard minutes after Melanie left. His body adjusted for a moment, his eyes wide and disoriented, but he ran to Melanie's window because the door was ajar. Reid woke with the tromping of Phillip's boots. Phillip stared out the glass. Reid joined him in time to see streaks of Melanie's gold hair flying out from under her black bonnet as she rode off on her snow white horse going at least 40-something miles per hour. Reid stared. Phillip, ran, waking the house with the clank of his boots. Reid pulled his sweatshirt over his grey tee he had worn to bed as he knocked on the door's of his team mates. JJ and Emily exited their room together first, both rubbing their eyes. Morgan opened his door wide and Hotch and Rossi broke out of their rooms.
"Melanie's gone," Reid said. Reid heard a glass crack behind him. He turned to see Charlie, drunk and unshaven, drop his alcohol.
"Damien?" he asked, voice trembling.
Reid shook his head. "On her own. Her horse."
"I'll shoot it when she gets back. I might just shoot her too..." he hissed, stopping down the stairs. Mammy was out of her room then, trying to hold back Charles.
"Stay, Charlie. You're drunk." Morgan said.
"I have to get my sister!" he said. He could hear Phillip screaming from the yard. He was on his dapper horse he had put in the stable from his last ride over here.
"You'll only get in the way. Stay, for Melanie." Charlie continued fighting his way to the door.
"Charlie! We'll get her...I promise." Reid said.
"Liar!"
"...You can kill me if I'm wrong."
Charlie looked back. "You swear?"
"Reid!" Hotch said.
"I promise," Reid said, without looking at his team mates.
"Where does Melanie go to think?" Reid asked as the other team members (minus Hotch and Rossi) were loading into the SUVs.
"I don' know, Docta Reid. Miss Melly's a wanderer. Eva since she was a lil' thang. She was always goin', never stoppin'."
"Any ide-"
"The cemetery." Charlie's voice was hard. He didn't look at Reid, just took another sip of his brandy.
"The cemetery. Father's grave. I'd find her there some times, after she came to terms. There's an angel by his grave, and he's got a crook in his arm. Melanie used to fall asleep there. She trusted it. She told me once it spoke to her...I never dreamed..."
    Reid stalked into the car then, and it drove away, leaving Charlie to stare and wonder if he should've trusted that boy to bring home his sister. He immediately regretted trusting someone else with his duty.
***
The BAU beat Phillip to the grave yard, only to see Melanie slowly walking and speaking to herself. The team decided to keep quiet, and keep watch around the perimeter's of the yard.
"The little song bird thought of everything and nothing. Her father promised to send her the angel of music," Melanie's hand raised from the dead roses in her hand to her wet eyes, wiping them dry. "Her father promised her..." Melanie didn't see the others as she walked, her black dress dragging behind her, the low cut lace showing too much of her breasts. She didn't care. She clutched an odd amount of dead red roses tied with a black ribbon. Her breath danced as fog in the late autumn and it swirled around the roses, who were begging to join. Melanie tossed back the lace bonnet, letting her tied back blonde hair fall around her face, hiding it like she had after her father died, protecting her.
"Father..." she whispered, her voice cracking. "You were everything...you were all that ever mattered. You more than a father, you were a best friend. Then you left. You left me...what was I supposed to do when you shattered my world? Sometimes...if I ever dreamed...some how, you would be here. I wish I could hear your voice again...knowing that I never will. But dreaming of you gave me strength, and every thing I did was for you.
     Now, what I am doing? Walking a cemetery to get to you. Passing tombstones and sculpted angels...this isnt' where you should be, Abba. You were warm and gentle...." Melanie's tears fell harder and faster now. Her voice cracked as she screamed.
"Too many years fighting back tears, why can't the past just die? Abba, try to forgive! Teach me to live! Give me the strength to try! Cast away the memories, the thoughts, the silent tears! No more gazing across the wasted years!" Melanie slumped in front of a mausoleum. White marble next to her pale skin in the moon, she blended with the exception of her black dress. Her gold hair was leached a white-yellow in the night light.
"Help me say goodbye..." she whispered.
    The white angel stared down at her, his hands outstretched. Melanie wrapped her little pale hands onto the wings, and started sobbing again as she tried to rise.
Phillip's dapper horse flew up the drive, filing past Melanie's snow white horse which had been left at the gate.
"Melly?!" Phillip said, jumping off his hoarse, and coming down to Melanie. She looked up, shocked, her blue eyes laced with red. Phillip came and she buried herself into him. She sobbed harder to him as he looked up at the marble mausoleum. He shuddered, and turned back to his fiance.
"It's okay, Melly..." he whispered kissing her hair. She roughly gripped his head and kissed all over his face and he meshed their lips together passionately. She continued sobbing, pulling at her hair after they fell apart.
"Are you ready to come  home?" he asked. Melanie shook her head.
"You're going to freeze," she told him, whipping off her cloak and stringing it around his shoulders.
He chuckled darkly. "And you barefoot and and a sleeveless dress are warm without this?" he said, trying to give it back to her. She pushed it away.
"I don't need it," she said, smiling through her pain. Reid was gritting his teeth not even 10 feet from them. She was being brave for him, when she had come here to be vulnerable and open with her father. He was ruining this. Reid wanted to run and yell at Phillip, just as he wanted to save Melanie from Charlie back when they'd first arrived. Again, he didn't act, and he felt sick to his stomach. But he remembered Melanie asking him that one day:
"I don't have to act around you, do I, Reid?"
He had been shocked at first. But Spencer knew right now, how she could cry shamelessly next to him. He didn't understand how he had become her safe house, but he had.
"Let's get you home," Phillip tried again. Melly shook her head once more. She looked at the gates of the monument.
"Do you think they would get upset if I went in?" she said. Phillip held her arm as she rose to try to pry open the gates. Reid wondered how many times the teenage Melanie had sat there, screaming and crying trying to throw open the gates to her father's dead body. He shuddered.
"Don't, Melly, they're closed for a reason."
"I know..." she whispered. "...It was closed-casket funeral. I don't even know what he was wearing. I don't even know if it's him in the box. If seeing is believing, how did they ever expect me to come to terms?" she whispered, gazing longingly through the bars. She could vaguely see the outline of a maroon casket with her code of arms on the top. She sighed.
"I want to be right there," she pointed inside. "Right next to him."
Phillip sighed. "Not in France with Gustave and I?...And our other children?" Reid swore he saw Melanie flinch. She hung her head.
"That's not something to think about now, is it?" she asked.
"No...it's not. We'll worry about that later. Melanie..." he whispered, but Spencer could hear, and he knew Emily could hear on the other side. Hotch and Rossi were by the gate and JJ and Morgan were in the back entrance.
"How...how soon do you want to try to have a baby?"
Melanie looked up at him and stared.
"What do you mean?"
Phillip didn't say anything.
"You...out-outside of a wedlock?"
Again, he didn't say a word.
Melanie rose. "How dare you!" she hissed. "I came here...you said that in front of my father? How dare you! This is exactly why I knew I shouldn't let you kiss me yet! I..." Melanie didn't speak, but ran away. She left the roses on the steps, and ran. Phillip chased after her, but Emily found him.
"Vicomte!" she said, grabbing his arm.
"Let me-"
"No."
He stopped flailing after a moment, and he stared after Melanie as it slowly began to rain. Spencer couldn't hold his tongue anymore.
"Melly!" he screamed, but she was on her horse and moving.
"Melly! Melly!"
***
Melanie came in after the BAU, and before Phillip. She hopped off the horse, and came eye to eye with Charlie. And his navel pistol.
"If you shoot Theophilia I'll scream!" she cried. It was dripping in the barn, and Melanie was soaked to the bone.
"I'll kill that horse!" he slurred. Melanie slowly reached out for the gun, and tossed it once it was in her hands.
"Don't, Charlie...don't." Her hands were on the sides of his face, and she kissed him lightly. His eyebrows knitted together. It had been too long since Charlie excepted any kind of love from Melly-drunk or not. She held him for a moment, perhaps too long.
"Don't do this..." she whispered. She pulled back and saw his thinking face. She looked, eyes wide.
"What are you looking at?" he groaned. Her finger ran between his eyes, separating his brows.
"You look so like Father..." she whispered.
Melanie stepped away, and got back on her white horse, and burst out of the barn back into the rain. Charlie, in his white silk pajamas, flew onto his black horse. Reid watched as Charlie circled in front of Melanie. The two horses, white on black. Their clothing black on white. Their skin, pale on sun-kissed. Their hair, gold on gold.
"Come inside," he whispered. Melanie looked down, but slowly rose her head again. She took off past her brother, flying past the rain and trees. She screamed, just to do it. Just to let out some of the pain that weighed on her. She turned around, flying in front of Ardely, arms out wide, going as fast as she could. Everything was blurring around her, and she became blind to the outside world.
***
Charlie helped Melanie slop through the mud to the steps of Ardely around 3 a.m. that night. The hem of her black dress was ruined- hell, it was ruined up to the knees. She was soaked and shaking and would become unconscious soon. Charlie kissed her forehead gingerly and her head flopped on his shoulder. He reached for the handle, but it was pulled open. Charlie gasped.
    Melly's eyes opened to slits, and she could she the familiar, falsely warm face in front of her. Grey-haired and wrinkled slightly.
"Mayor Barly?" she asked, before her bony legs gave out.
***
"I just...why would you do such a thing?! Did you know how worried we were? Half the police force is out looking for you! What were you doing, Melanie?!" Her mother, blonde hair pulled back into a crisp bun and a emerald night frock and matching robe on her body stared down at Melanie, wet and cold, shivering and weak. Melanie looked sick, almost, her black shawl wrapped about her.
"I went to Father's grave," she whispered, eyes never leaving the ground.
"...Never again." Melanie's eyes shot up.
"You can't-" but as she rose to fast, her head spun and she started to cough rapidly, grasping at her throat as she fell back down. She calmed in a few minutes.
"Dresella, darling," the mayor came behind her and massaged her shoulders. "You can't do that. It means so much to dear Melly."
Melanie stared evilly at the pair. "How familiar," she gasped, unable to keep the shock and anger out of her voice.
"I do suppose it's out of the bag," Mayor Barly cried, throwing up his hands.
"Children, John and I...well, we've been courting for a few months now-"
"And you were planing to tell us when?" Melanie asked.
"Don't interrupt, Melanie and you'll get the full story," said John Barly with a smile and wag of his finger. Melanie stared. Did she...did she see an orange tinge to his hair. Melanie locked eyes with her mother again, and the two stared down each other evilly. It was true, Dresella was beautiful, and Melanie would look just like her at 40, but Dresella possessed a mean air Melanie could never reflect if she tried, and she was.
"Here dear," said the Major coming for Melly,"your shawl is soaked. Let me-"
"No," Melanie tightened her grip on it. "I'm sorry I interrupted," she sneered, rising ungracefully and with difficulty.
"Melanie, you can't be insinuating that I was with your mother tonight?"
"You got here uncommonly fast," she said, without turning back.
"Melanie Rene-" her mother began, but John was faster.
"You're mother called me once she realized you were gone."
"And when was that? 20 minutes ago?" the look on John's face told her it hadn't been when she went missing. Melanie cringed.
"It's late. I'm going to turn in. Why don't you go spend some time with Angus, Mayor? He's still young and impressionable," she sneered. She wiped away tears as she ascended the stairs thinking to herself,"You might even convince him your his father."

Melanie deep down knew it was very probable he might be.

Chapter Twenty-Five-To Be Or Not To Be

Chapter Twenty-Five
To Be Or Not To Be

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

     They were sitting in the great room of Ardely, Charlie at his father's desk, pouring yet another drink, Garcia on her computer, no doubt IMing Kevin, Reid, a book in his hands, though he couldn't quite concentrate, Phillip on the threadbare couch and Melanie on his lap, staring without seeing in the direction of her brother. Aggie was in the floor, half asleep. He yawned, and Melanie snapped back into awareness. She rose, smoothing her skirt and leaning down-careful not to let her skirt pop up-to pick up her little brother. He sighed as he nuzzled his red hair under his sister's chin.

"Melly..." he sighed, yawning again,"I'm tired..."

"Shhhh, shhhh...I know, baby. Are you ready for bed?"

"Can you tell me a story?" he asked. Then, his eyes focused and he spoke up again. "Or will you sing?"

Victoria smiled. "Ooooo! Mammy, get my harp! Melanie can play and sing while I play my harp."

"I'll sing...I'm a bit rusty on the pianoforte..." Melanie said. Victoria didn't argue.

"What song do you want?" Victoria asked. Aggie whispered awkwardly to Victoria.
"Can it...just be Melly? By herself?" he asked. Victoria frowned.
"If that's what you want..." she grumbled. "I'm going to bed," she huffed as she sulked up the stairs. Charlie smirked.
"Okay, Aggie...let's go to your room..."
"Can you sing it here? So everyone can listen?"
Melanie looked around the room, her pale cheeks turning red. "Err...I guess...What do you want me to sing?"
"Whatever is playing in your head," he smiled. Charlie looked from Aggie to Melanie. Did he understand her? This bastard boy with no father? He understood her?
   Melly sat Angus on her lap and bounced her legs in slow rhythm, the beat of the piano if she had been playing. She hummed for a moment as the sleepy boy placed his head on  his sister's chest. Melanie began to sing as if they were the only two in the room.

"My father bought it secondhand from a silent movie star
It was out of tune but still I learned to play
And with each note we both would smile forgetting who we ar
eAnd all the pain would simply fly away
Something secondhand and broken still can make a pretty sound
Even if it doesn't have a place to live
Oh, the words were left unspoken when my abba came around
But that Secondhand White Baby Grand still had something beautiful to give
Through missing keys and broken strings the music was our own
Until the day we said our last goodbyes
The baby grand was sent away, a child all alone, to pray somebody else would realize
That something secondhand and broken still can make a pretty sound
Even if it doesn't have a place to live
Oh. the words are still unspoken now that abba's not around
But that Secondhand White Baby Grand still has something beautiful to give
For many years the music had to roam
Until we found a way to find a home.
So now I wake up every day and see him standing there.
Just waiting for a partner to compose
And I wish my father still could hear
That sound beyond compare
I'll play her song till everybody knows.
That something secondhand and broken still can make a pretty sound
Don't we all deserve a family room to live
Oh. the words can't stay unspoken until everyone has found
That Secondhand White Baby Grand that still has something beautiful to give.
I still have something beautiful to give,"

She smiled, touching Aggie's face.

"Do you miss him awful?" he asked. Melanie nodded.

"I'm sorry..." he whispered.

"You have nothing to be sorry for, Angus," she whispered, bringing him tighter to her chest. "You're so kind. Father loves you, too, you know. From Heaven. He looks down and watches us. He's proud of you, I know it."
Aggie's little blue eyes turned to a grey of uncertainty, his red brows furrowing.
"You remember what you told me was a good lesson once? Even though you said you couldn't remember it and you told me to remind you?"
Melanie stared at her little brother. "No..." she said, dragging out the word.
Aggie smiled. "You said,'Never give all the heart.' You told me to remind you and I did."
Melanie swallowed. "Yeah..." she said. "It's what I wrote in my note when I left," she said, looking at Charlie. He looked away.
"C'mon, Masta Angus. Let'm Mammy take ya to bed," she said, letting the boy hop of Melanie and he dragged his sleeping feet across the floor.
"That's what you wrote him?" Charlie asked after they had gone. The others were still in the room, and Melanie looked away sadly, embarrassed.
"I was going to leave him something sweeter. Telling him to hold on to hope. But there is no hope, Charlie. I gave him truth instead, and he could use it so much more."
"Do you honestly believe that? Never give all the heart?"
Melanie looked up, rubbing her eyes,"Just think of the misery I'd miss..." she whispered. "But I can't give half or nothing. I put my heart and soul into everything...and I get hurt...every time. Maybe God is vengeful, and I did something wrong. Maybe I'm just unfortunate. Maybe this is all chance, which is extremely unlikely.
I didn't want him to go through what I did, Charlie."
"...You left everyone a note. All you wrote on mine was,"I love you.""
"Don't tell me you didn't see more there. I couldn't write a good bye to you, Charlie. Thinking of it broke my heart."
"Then why did you leave? Do you even know what that did to me? Not having you with me? Worrying every second if you were dead or alive? Huh, Melly?"
Melanie was crying soft tears. Tears of regret.
"If I could do it over again, I would never leave. Not because of my pain, but because of the pain I've caused others. Do you think I haven't laid awake every night and thought about what I did? Here's what happened because I left:

Phillip returned to France, upon hearing this news, his older brother and his wife came down on a boat, leaving their young son at home. They died when the boat sank, and their child became an orphan.
We wouldn't fight. I wouldn't join the BAU. All those people who died on Coney and are dying here, wouldn't be dead because of Damien.
Maybe, if I stayed, I wouldn't have skipped a grade. I would've stayed with Audrey and India and maybe, Indie would be okay, not getting hunted down.
Johnny Potter wouldn't have died.
Phillip would be free to marry who he wants.
I'd have been around for Christmas and Thanksgiving and Easter and birthdays. I'd have been the mother to Aggie that he needed. I'd be support for Victoria. You'd be sober. I'd still be you're best friend. Think of the misery I'd have saved everyone if I hadn't gone. How many deaths are on my shoulders? How many more are coming down?
Charlie...you don't know how many times I thought I wasn't worth living. I thought if I had never been born...
Maybe, that night, the phone call may have distracted dad...maybe that's why he died. If I'd never been born, he could still be here!"
Melanie was sobbing. "It's all my fault! It's always been my fault! Every thing and everyone! I've hurt so many people! I'm so sorry! Saying it will never be enough! I can't stop saying it-"
"Melanie, sweetie," Phillip wrapped his arms around his fiance as Charlie stared, never thinking his litter sister did all that. "Shh....Melly, honey...nothing is your fault. It was supposed to happen, I know. It was all supposed to happen, baby. You're fine...you're fine Melanie."
He was holding her like a baby as she cried into his shoulder.
"Why did you let me go?" she whispered.
"Because you never would've stayed," Phillip sighed, kissing her head. "Stubborn and proud," he said.
"Quasi bos," Melanie smiled."I love you, Phillip. I love you so much..." she nuzzled her head in his neck and he smiled.
"I've always loved you, Melanie. And trust me when I say I would never change a thing." Melanie didn't smile again, just sighed. She rose, wiping her eyes, and said goodnight, giving each guest a kiss on the cheek. Reid blushed when he received his. Phillip said he wanted to escort Melanie to bed himself. Mammy pursed her lips and her eyes narrowed. Melanie's face turned bright pink, making her lips appear normal. Phillip took her hand as he lead her up the stairs.
***
"I love you, Melly..." Phillip whispered, his mouth on hers again. Melanie smiled. She still was upset with herself that she had let Phillip actually kiss her. The awful thing was, every time Phillip kissed her, she remembered that night in the forest and the first kiss she ever received.
    She remembered Spencer's mouth on hers, and the surprise of it, but it wasn't unwelcome. She remembered his hands on her neck and in her hair. His eyelashes fluttered against her eyelids and Melanie remembered the passion. She remembered being overwhelmed and not sure what to think. She remembered being assaulted by some emotion too strong for her. She remembered crying out of pain and fear. She remembered her heart breaking from it.
    That night she briefly remembered Phillip, still young and full of life. It was a sad thought and she hadn't dwelled on it for more than a minute. She never thought she would see him again. She wondered if he ever got those letters she sent, or if he was even alive. She remembered his lips on her cheek, on her forehead, her neck. Then Phillip showed up that next day, and Melanie had never been more confused. And Reid had been hurt and Melanie didn't understand any of it. Had Reid wanted more than that kiss? Melanie hadn't allowed her self to think it until now.
     Phillip seized Melly's chin, and she looked him in the eye.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
"What do you mean?"
Phillip ran his soft finger under her eye, and pulled it back for her to see the moisture.
"Oh...I'm sorry...I was just...I really do love you,"Melanie whispered, the tears coming faster.
"Melly..." Phillip whispered. "Here, put on your nightgown and get in bed. I'll be back in the morning."
"Phillip," Melanie whispered as he was leaving.
"Yes?"
"Don't leave me alone," she whimpered.
"...You know I have to back to Ramblings."
"...I know. Could you...Could you send up Reid? Just so he could watch me tonight? I'm scared Damien-"
"I know. I will darling. And it won't be anytime at all, you'll close your eyes and dream of me, and then I'll be there in the morning, holding you. I promise." He kissed her forehead, and all Melanie heard was the clunk of his boots down the hall.
***
Reid hurried up the stairs after Phillip had informed him Melanie wanted him. Dodging around another corner, he finally came to Melanie's door. Knocking tentatively, his only response was a meek,"Come in," from behind the door.
     Melanie was sitting in the middle of her double bed, the white and black lace sheets pulled tightly around her. Her blonde hair was up in a tight bun, with one braid slinging down her back. Reid wondered how long her hair really was. Melanie was biting her lip, and her eyes looked sad as she watched him come around to her side.
"There's a chair there...and a couch. Or you could take the bed and I could-"
"No. You are never going to take the floor or the couch again. Okay?"
Melanie laughed her warm laugh that made the corners of Reid's mouth twitch up.
"Alright," she said as Reid pulled a chair next to her bed. He smiled at her.
"I just...I wanted someone with me tonight. I felt...better knowing it was you. You've saved my life so many times...I still never thanked you for letting me in that night I got shot. I would've bled to death without you, Spencer. You really are the best friend a girl could ever ask for. Thank you. For everything," she whispered, her little hands wrapped around one of his big slender ones. He smiled.
"I wouldn't have let you died, Melanie. I will never let anything happen to you."
Melanie looked away, blushing, and smiled. "You really are the best, Spencer. Go take the couch. I'm going to sleep," she sighed, rolling over.
"Wait," Spencer said. Melanie turned, sitting up.
"Yes?" she asked.
"Can I...do something?"
"What?" Melanie asked.
Spencer blushed deep as his hand went up to Melanie's head, and unplugged one bobbypin. One by one as he pulled them out the more the hair design fell until her hair fell in one swoop in a gold, wavy river down her back. Spencer reached forward, and stuck his hands in it. Her hair was the softest he'd ever touched.
"When you were at my house that night, and said you were leaving, I thought about all I didn't know about you. One of those things was that I had never seen your hair down...now I know."
 Spencer stayed in the chair, and he knew Melanie didn't even close her eyes that night as she was constantly rolling over, scanning the room for someone who could hurt her again. Melanie would constantly be looking over her shoulder. She always would.
***
"I just think it's time we finally announce it."
"I don't know, Phil..."
"Can we try? Please? I know you're scared. I'm scared too. Tell me, Melly, what are you afraid off?"
They were sitting in Melanie's father's old garden, which she had kept alive after his death. Xylen had been tending to it since, but it wasn't at it's peak like when Melanie and Rene had done it together. That's when there was always love and happiness. Always hope.
The gardens walls hide them from prying eyes from around, but not above where Charlie watched from his window.
"...If we do this now, it becomes real, so fast. This has all been this one big hit of nostalgia. After this, it's over. We just...nothing will be the same. At first, I was worried about missing the team and the freedom, I suppose. But now...Now I'm worried about Ardely Tower. I'm worried about Charlie and Victoria and Angus and Mother. I'll miss the team, dreadful. I'll miss America. I didn't think entertaining you're curiosity 6 years ago meant anything...now look where we are. My life will change forever."
"Is that bad?"
"...No, I suppose not. Just different and unknown and scary. Phillip?" she asked timidly.
"Yes?"
"...Would you be angry if...Well, if I couldn't have children?"
Phillip blinked. "But of course you can have children, Melly. Can't you?"
"...Mammy and I were talking and she thinks...well, she thinks it will be difficult for me to have a baby because my hips aren't wide enough. She think I'll have a dreadful time. She says I'm too skinny to have a baby. I just...I want to give you everything you want and if I can't-"
"Melly...all you've ever wanted is to have children. I remember you telling me all you've ever asked God for that was reasonable was to have children and a family."
"If I can't give it to you, I think you should go with someone who can....I want to give you everything I can, Philly. I really do."
"Melanie, you'll be able to-"
"Goodness gracious, Phillip! Just give me an answer!"
"Melanie Wilkes, I know you'll be able to have a baby. Because you are the strongest woman I've ever met."
Melanie looked down. "And if it comes down to it, I'll have the baby. Even if it means I have to die. I don't care if they know I'm going to die while I'm pregnant, I'm not going to kill our baby! It's going to get a fair chance."
"Say, you aren't pregnant?"
"Phillip Dufour! How in the world is it possible for me to be pregnant?"
Phillip smiled. "I'm only teasing."
"Well, I didn't find it funny. ...You're really okay with this? I might never be able to give you a child-"
"We have Gustave. I love him, even though I know I shouldn't. It's my fault-"
"Don't start," Melanie said, her finger on his lips. She replaced it with her own, kissing him softly. "I love you."
"Forever," Phillip whispered.
"M-melanie...?" Melanie whipped around to Charlie at the edge of the garden, looking like he could be sick.
"Yes?" she whispered.
"Mammy wants you in the house."
"...Yes...thank you."

Charlie grabbed Melanie's arm fiercely as the exited together.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"It's not important."
"Not important? Melanie, you could die!"
"I know."
"I don't want you dying for him!" he hissed in a fierce whisper.
"And what's so wrong with that?!" Melanie screamed. The team could here them from there spot on the porch. "If I die that's how I'll die! Why have you always disliked Phillip so much?"
"Because he's taking you from me!" Charlie panted. "I didn't like him since we were little boys. He was weird...his friends were jerks and bullies. Melly, you hate people like that!"
"I don't hate anyone and Phillip isn't anything like that. I love him! I can't think of any other way to die but by dying for him! You've hated him since that day he got in your car! I'm marrying him, Charlie! You don't have a say."
"You chose this, Melanie. It's not too late to come back."
"...What do you mean?"
"You're making a choice between me or him."
"What?"
"It's me or him, Melly. It's always been me or him. You can't have both." Charlie left his sister there.
"YOU DIDN'T USED TO BE THIS WAY! FATHER'S DEATH AFFECTED YOU TOO!"
Charlie ran back to Melanie, his nails digging into her arm. "His death didn't affect me," he hissed,"You're death did!" he yelled as he pushed her down.
"I lost the only thing I ever loved that day!" he screamed."I just...I just wished I would've known there was no way to save her..."
"Charlie..."

But he was gone.
***
"I can't believe it...but you just started courting!" Audrey yelled. "Oh! We are going to have to go dress shopping soon!" she squealed. "You know, a lot of people are upset about you two getting married."
Melanie looked up from her sewing. "Oh?" she asked her friend. They were in Melanie's dining room. Audrey was eating lunch while Melanie was taking up her needle-point again.
"Yes. Not a lot of course. A few of those people who saw you stick up for India and the people they told are upset. Annette, of course, couldn't be happier. Did you see Charlotte died her hair back to normal?"
"No. Thank heaven, too. I love her but it looked dreadful!"
"Why do you have to love her for?"
"She'll be my sister in due time."
"Sister, smishter. She's never been more than a roommate in Phillip's mind. He can't wait to get out of here and back to France. Back to France with you. After he turned 18, he came back, Melly. Back for you. There was nothing holding him here. Nothing but you. And you were gone, too. Probably thought you were dead. Going to a place like that Coney Island! I don't even know what you did there but still...Golly, Melly, its dangerous. He left before any of us knew you were gone."
"...What was it like when I left? I mean, for my family. I never thought about what would happen."
"What did you think happened?" Cal said, bringing Melanie her lunch. "Mammy went to grab you for breakfast and there was nothing but an empty bed, closet, and an open window. She thought you'd been taken. After reading the note and after she had done her crying, she said,"I never thought she'd be dumb enough to leave."
Melanie smirked sadly. "Sheer ignorance..." she sighed.
"Excuse me, Miss Melly. I have to keep cooking. You're mother has got the whole town over tonight for your and Phillip's engagement party..."
***
"I feel like a monkey," Angus sighed, then eyed himself in the mirror. "I look like a monkey..." he groaned. Melanie picked him up.
"You do not look like a monkey. You look very handsome, Angus."
He frowned, and ruffled his hair. "It's my hair. My ugly, orange hair. The kids at school make fun of me for it."
"Oh, Aggie, don't listen to those idiots! You're hair is absolutely beautiful!"
"I wish it was gold, like mothers. Or copper, like father's. I don't even understand how I got orange."
"That's because God made it special. He knew what a special little boy you'd be, and you could just have copper or gold hair like anyone else, now could you? No. He gave you the most beautiful, colorful hair around! And some day, some girl is going to look across the room and skip over all the boys and see you, and fall in love with Angus Wilkes."
"...You think so?" he asked.
"Why, of course, Aggie! But you have to wait for the perfect girl."
"Like Phillip waited for you?"
"Indeed," said a far away voice. Melanie smiled as she turned to see her future husband smiling, arms behind his back.
"Melanie..." he whispered. Melanie rose and embraced her fiance.
"I'm so glad we don't have to hide this anymore," she whispered.
     Melanie looked beautiful in a small ballet outfit that was a mix of sheer pink and red, matching  her lips. Her gold hair had been pressed into perfect banana curls. Her cheeks had been stained a delicate pink, but they had left her lips red and the rest of her pale as the moon.
"You look so beautiful..." he whispered. He too was wearing a red army jacket with white (tight) trousers. They were shockingly tight, actually, and Melanie was blushing like crazy and was glad for the jacket's tails. He had one tall, black boots and his hair was tied back with a black ribbon.
"Thank you," she whispered. "You look very handsome. I love you...so much..."
Phillip pulled back.
"Are you crying?" he asked.
Melanie turned away. "This can't be real," she whispered hoarsely. "You can't be real. This is too perfect. Everything I ever loved always gets ripped away from me. Why happiness? Why now? It's too good to be true...I just...I don't think I've ever been this happy..."
"It's alright, Melly,"Phillip whispered, embracing her again. "I'm not going anywhere. I'll always be with you, anyway."
"If you use a cliche-" she warned.
"In your heart." he teased. Melanie rolled her eyes, getting rid of the tears.
"It's true, though," she sighed, kissing his forehead.
"You look gorgeous...one more thing, though," he winked, then signaled her to get on her knees. She skeptically obeyed, eyeing him oddly.
Phillip pulled out a velvet black box, not small, but thin and wide. Opening it, Melanie gasped.

In the box was a gold tiara with a web of crimson rubies. It matched her engagement ring perfectly.

Phillip placed the tiara on Melanie's head, then helped her up.
"You look beautiful, Melanie. Like the future Vicomtesse of France should." He leaned in to hug her and he whispered,"your father would be so proud."

Her face flushed and she felt like crying.

Are you? she thought to her father.
***
Melanie and Phillip had somehow been forced into the middle of the ballroom, and Melanie once again turned red. The song started gently and Phillip kneeled and each took turns echoing the other's ballet movement. Their dance was startlingly beautiful considering it was not choreographed. Melanie and Phillip just seemed to fit together perfectly, there bodies molding into each other. Melanie blushed as Phillip gently took her face and planted his lips on hers. His pink lips and her red ones looked oddly like a elementary age child's valentines card.
"Aunt Josephine!" Melanie cried, running to a woman in the back of the room. The attention had shifted away from the couple again, and Melanie took advantage of this.
Melanie embraced a dark haired woman in the corner of the room. Reid rushed across to see Melanie-he hadn't seen her all night-but he came into this scene instead.
"Look at you..." sighed the dark-haired woman. Her hair was rolled up in a vertical roll on top of her head. She had on a silk straight red dress, which fell to the floor. Her eyelids were a rose pink in contrast with her tan skin and her lips were blood red.
"You look more like your mother, everyday, you know," she said. Melanie looked away. The woman gently seized Melanie's chin and made her look her in the eye. "That's not a bad thing."
"I wish I looked like Father."
The woman sighed, looking at Melanie hair. "In some ways, I wish you did too...How's the FBI life treating you?"
"Errr..."
She laughed. "That's what I thought."
"It's definitely interesting...if you could say that. Reid! Come here this instant. Auntie you must meet a friend of mine. Aunt Josephine, this is Dr. Reid. Reid, this my Aunt Josephine."
"Nice to meet you," she said, with a curtsy. Reid nodded.
"He works in the BAU with me."
"Well, I'm glad to see you have a friend."
"A very good friend, indeed. He has saved my life countless times now. I don't believe I've ever saved yours-well, you've never needed saving."
"Trust me, Melly. You'll need to save me more times than you can count later." They both smiled.
"Now, are you, uh, Melanie maternal Aunt?"
"Oh, no. I'm her father's younger sister. Erin Strauss, who is your boss, correct? Is our oldest sister. Well, half sister. Our father's daughter from a previous marriage. She was so much older than us, we didn't really connect."
"Oh." Reid took that in, then noticed the resemblance between Melanie and her Aunt. Their skin colors were contrasting, the slight glowing tan of her Aunt next to Melanie's snow white skin. Melanie's blue eyes matched her aunt's, and they both had the identical ruby red lips. Which, in turn, gave each of the them the ability to look their best in bright red dresses. Melanie's gold hair vs. her aunt's chestnut. Just barely lighter than her father's.
"Erin was always so...serious. She didn't really play with me, and that's why I was so close to Rene. He was always good with children. I remember when you were born, Melly, and he held you for the first time. He held you for an hour straight-minus when you were breastfed (your mother slept after that)-and just watched you sleep. Finally when you woke up, he was telling you stories and singing to you. He kept going on about your blue eyes and you just had this one blonde curl...you were born pure white you know. Not blue or purple like you were supposed to, but you came out chalk white with you hand on you chin. It really was the most adorable thing.
Your father went on this rant about how much he was going to give you. He said, when it came time for you to marry, you'd have the pick of all the gentlemen in the south. You'd have the best. Is he?"
"He's a Vicomte."
"Always a plus but, does he make you happy?"
"We've been childhood sweethearts forever. It would break my heart to see him go. But...I don't know. I'm marrying him. He seems like the best thing. I just always thought...I'd be feeling...more. Of something at least! I don't know...will you tell me about your latest trip?"
"Later, after the party. Go dance!" Aunt Josephine left the two together as she went to talk to Charlie, who was looking pale and angry.
"Melanie?" Reid said.
"Yes, Spencer?"
"If this could ever make up for it, can I have this dance?"
Melanie looked at Reid, who was smiling sheepishly, his hand held out low, so he could take it back without being too rejected. Melanie bent down and grabbed Reid's hand and they began the reel, Reid tripping over his own feet more than once, and Melanie saving him from countless face plants.
***
Melanie had spent the night dancing, and only after a beautiful triumphant song did she stop.

Along with the rest of the ballroom.

Melanie turned and stared at the intruder in the room and her face went dead pale.
"Why so silent good Monsieur's? Did you think that I had left you for good? Have you missed me?" asked the masked man. "I have written you an opera! Here I bring the finished score. Fondest greetings to you all. A few instructions before rehearsals start...Charlotte must be taught how to act, not her normal trick of strutting around the stage. Our dear tenor must lose some weight, it's not healthy for a man of his age. As for our star...Miss Melanie Wilkes..." Damien took no time at all to find Melanie in the crowd, his dark eyes darting to her. "No doubt she'll do her best. It's true, her voice is good. She knows. Though, should she wish to excel, she still has much to learn, if pride will allow her to return to me...her teacher...her teacher..." People gasped, backing away as Damien approached her. Melanie didn't flinch as he came up to her. Melanie knew the sadness in his eyes and she wanted to grasp his hand, to beg him to stop. But before he could, he yanked the tiara off Melanie's head and threw it on the ground.
"Your chains are still mine! You belong to me," he hissed, disappearing with a puff of smoke. Morgan ran after him, but he returned a few moments later.
"He's gone..."
***
After the party was over, Melanie sat by young Gustave as he played the grand piano in the large ballroom at Ardely. Reid looked around the room, taken by it's beauty. The floor was the shiniest tan granite, and the walls were gold with candles lit in the holders. The huge Grand Piano in the corner held Melanie and Gustave, who were both wrapped in her black shawl. Her hair had fallen out of the banana curls and was a golden and wavy river again.
    Melanie watched as her soon-to-be godchild's pale fingers danced across the ivories. Melanie smiled as he hit a wrong chord. She took his hand and placed it on the right keys.
"Here...try again...you'll get it if you practice."
"Why don't you practice anymore?"
"I stopped playing."
"I wanna stop."
"Now, now. Keep playing, please? Will you do it for me?"
"...Yes, Momma." Melanie smiled, kissing his head. She had changed into a long red dress with a button-up back and several petticoats underneath. She rubbed her eyes tiredly, sighing sadly. Her tiara hadn't been hurt, and the party had quickly cleared out after their intrusion.
"We checked the house," Hotchner said, coming in with Morgan and Rossi. "No one's here that shouldn't be."
"Thank you," Melanie said, rising. "I can sleep better knowing my family is safe tonight. I wish I could say that for the rest of the town."
"Don't worry, Melanie. He'll stay out of trouble till his play is performed."
"You think so, Derek?"
"Trust me, babe," he said, kissing her hair. She smiled, hugging her friend.
"I'm worried," she whispered to him, trembling.
"About?"
"Phillip's drunk. He left. I don't know when he'll be back...but when he does..."
"It's okay."

Phillip came in the room a few minutes later, slurring his swears.
"Phillip," Melanie whispered, her hands held up, trying to grasp his. Phillip yelled at his fiance, calling her a disgusting name, then struck her in the face with his fist.  Melanie fell to the ground, unconscious, blood trailing from the corner of her mouth. Charlie was the first to reach Phillip as he collapsed in a crying heap on Melanie, apologizing and sobbing to her. Charlie flipping his body off his sisters and held him by his collar.
"If you ever hit her again-"
"I'm sorry!" Phillip sobbed, falling into a heap. Morgan ripped Charlie away with Hotch's help, Charlie still screaming and cursing.
Reid stared at Melanie's little weak body, frail and lifeless. Her limbs were strone as carelessly as her hair.

Melanie's engagement had been announced. She would marry Phillip, she had too. It was more than honor and obligation. It was love.