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. 

Chapter Twenty-Five-These Violent Delights Have Violent Ends

Chapter Twenty-Five

These Violent Delights Have Violent Ends

 

 

 

 

 

 

     Spencer and Derek had received permission from Mammy to analyze the house. They went though all the upstairs rooms (with the exception of Melanie's and Victoria's. "That ain't fittin'!" Mammy had cried.) and were onto the downstairs.

     They came upon the locked door-Melanie's father's office.

"How do we-" Reid felt along the top of the door frame until he found a rusted, dusty skeleton key. Derek smiled. Reid thrust it into the hole and turned the knob and they were in.

     The office was a dark brownish-grey in color, but it seemed so much darker. The curtains were closed and their were bookshelves lining most of the room, filled to the brim with philosophy and classics. A pair of reading glasses sat on the large wood desk. There was a leather wheeled chair at it, cracked and worn. A rug in the middle, big enough to fit a person in. It was matted in the middle and flat while the rest was still clean. There was a piece of folded paper on the desk with a child like drawing on the front of a flower. A red rose with briar curling around it. Cryptic for such a ill drawing obviously drawn by someone so young. Morgan opened the inside and there was a drawing of a man. They child didn't bother coloring his skin peach, and left it the white grey of the paper. The man had blue eyes and the child had drawn the wrinkles that showed along with the with smile on his face. His hair was a slick bronze-copper but had a tinge of black along with the red brown.

"Happy Birthday...errr...How do you-?"

"It says 'Abba'," Reid said."She called him Abba. It means father but translates to-"

"Daddy."

     Reid and Morgan whipped around at the voice from the door frame. Melanie leaned against it, her eyes burning with anger and betrayal. She stalked forward and stole the card from Derek's hands and placed it where the dust showed it had been.

"I don't know how you got in here but I want you out. Now. This office hasn't been disturbed for seven years and I'd like to keep it that way." When Reid stood staring at the floor Melanie yelled again. "Out!"

"How many nights did you sleep here?" he asked.

Melanie stared with slits. "What?" she whispered. Reid pointed to the rug where the fabric was smashed and matted. "You layed there. How long? How many nights did you cry without leaving this room?"

Melanie stared without seeing at a spot on the wall. There was nothing there.

"It still smells like him...in here...Everything does....Please...just...just go..." Reid handed Melanie the extra key and she smiled lifelessly.

"Of course he would..." her voice trailed off. Reid shut the door behind him, so no one would see the tears streaming down Melanie's face.

***

Derek and Reid walked into the living room where Mammy was sitting out tea for her Mistress.

"Ah, boys," Dresella greeted them. "How lovely to see the two of you again!" she smiled. There was something about Mrs. Wilkes that made Reid feel like he was drowning in ice water. Her gold hair that was brittle and hay like or her brown eyes so dark they were almost black. Or the smile that never held any meaning. This woman failed to love the best daughter a woman could have. That's what chilled his bones the most, knowing what this woman had done to Melly. The original Melanie Wilkes was an orphan. Melanie was that in some sense, but mostly she was only Cinderella without a happy ending.

     Victoria came down the stairs, smiling from ear to ear. Her copper unruly hair was pulled back in a braid. Her parasol was slung lazily over her shoulder as she hummed (horribly).

"It's going to happen today, Mother," Victoria smiled. "I just know he's going to call on me today!"

"Of course Victoria," Dresella said, pinching her favorite daughter's cheek. "Mr. Kennedy is a fine choice too. Just make sure he doesn't take his time for asking for your hand like the Comte Dufour did. You'll end up an old maid, like Melly."

"Oh, Mother!" Victoria snorted,"Melly's not an old maid! She's engaged! And to a Comte. Oh, how I wish a Comte would fall in love with me," she sighed.

"Nonsense," Dresella said. "Mr. Kennedy's got a nice store down in Atlanta and he's got a side lumber, too. It'll be fine, darling. You'll be twenty times as rich as Melly if he keeps it up!"

"But Melly gets to be a Vicomtesse," she frowned. "French royalty!...."

"She won't have any say in the government," Dresella said. "The French are a democratic nation. Phillip will be an ambassador, like you're father," Dresella said.

"I'm going to retire for the morning, Mammy," Dresella sighed. "Wake when lunch is ready. I shall have it in my room."

"Yes'm, Mrs. Dresella."

"Mammy?" Reid asked when the nursemaid returned.

"Yes'm, Docta Reid?"

"I was...just wondering if...well, if you would tell us how Mr. Wilkes died."

Mammy's face darkened, and scared Reid immensely.

"It's a dark and sad story, Docta. Too dark to be tellin'."

"Go on, Mammy," Charlie said, Aggie's hand in  his as they entered the room.

"Yes, Mammy," Melanie whispered, coming into the room. "But, remember," she whispered, turning to leave again,"These violent delights, have violent ends."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Melanie laughed as Charlie tickled her from behind at the pianoforte, her blonde hair was flimsy, and didn't stay curled for long, so it was only wavy with a red silk ribbon in her hair and a matching dress. Black tights clung to her pale legs and she wore red shoes, a joke she and her father shared about the Hans Anderson story.

"Can't play now, can you?" Charlie sang as he tickled his 12 year old sister.

"Charlie!" she giggled as her hands pressed random keys. "Stop it!"

"Not until you say uncle!" he said.

"Never!" Melanie turned and pounced on her older brother. Melanie tickled his sides as he rolled and rolled, laughing hysterically.

"Will you two stop it?!" Dresella cried, 8 year old Victoria in her arms. It was late in December, and it was raining and snowing with a storm outside. Lightning struck again and Victoria screamed. Dresella covered her ears and Victoria fell to the floor. Melanie picked up the screaming girl.

"Want me to put you to bed?" Victoria nodded several times, her pink gown shimmering in the candle light as Melanie picked her up.

    Melanie turned on a little CD of music and plugged in three nightlights before giving her sister a kiss and leaving the room. Dresella, in a fusha turtle neck and high-rise slacks, sighed loudly. Her hair was pulled into a high ponytail with curls at the end. She had her phone in her hand, waiting for her husband to call.

"Miss Melly, you go practice the pianoforte some mo',"Mammy yelled. "And Mista Charlie, your Papa is gonna beat you if you don't get him in one gamma chess. Go practice."

"Aw, do I hafta? It's no fun when there's no one to play with."

"Come play the piano with me, Charlie!" Melly cried.

"No, Masta Charlie hasta play his chess."

Melanie frowned. She let her cat, Descartes, come slip up onto her lap as Melanie began to play the piece again. The song her father had given her to learn was sad and deep and made her want to run and cry and never stop. She wanted her father to hold her right now and she would cry and feel loved. The music cried into her blood and she smiled at her emotion. This is what music would always be to her. Love. Fear. Escape. Safety. Softness. Memories.

     The music was laced with longing and desire and Melanie closed her eyes and she didn't feel any others on her, though they were all watching as Melanie slipped into another world. Her mother, thinking how odd she was, like her father. Her brother so proud. Mammy so mesmerized.

     The phone rang and interrupted her and Melanie jumped to her feet.

"Rene?" Dresella asked into the phone. "Thank God, when are you-?"

"Abba! Abba!" Melanie jumping up and down.

"Shut-"

"Is that my little song bird I hear?" Melanie could hear her father's voice from where she was standing. Dresella again asked her question but Rene Wilkes demanded to talk to his daughter.

"Abba," Melanie sighed.

"How's my dove?"

"Better now, Papa," she said, smiling. "I've been playing all night, just like I promised!"

"Good girl! Tell you what, baby doll, I'll be home real soon and why don't you play and when I get home, the first thing I'll hear is my song bird playing her music."

"Okay, Abba!"

"Melly!" Rene cried, as Melanie pulled the phone away.

"Yes, Papa?"

"...I love you."

"I love you, too." Melanie said, smiling. Rene pictured that in his mind and he sighed.

"Be good, little dove. Be good."

When Melanie handed the phone to her mother, Rene was gone. Dresella sighed and returned to the dining room, where she would sit for the next few hours with her head in her hands.

     Melanie returned to the piano and played.

 

And played.

 

 

 

And played.

 

 

 

Melanie Wilkes would play all night till two o'clock in the morning, until the door opened. Melanie bit on her lips to hold the smile and when she turned to see the two sad looking cops whispering to her mother and Mammy. Melanie watched as all she heard was the music ringing in her ears as her mother fell to the ground and Mammy's head whipping to see the young girl playing the piano.

"Stop playing..." Dresella had whispered.  Melanie didn't hear her mother, she just stared at the police, her face distorted with what she knew had happened, her fingers still typing along the keys.

"Stop it..." Dresella whispered. "Stop!!" she had flown into a rage and everything seemed to slow down for Melanie. Her mother trying to violently rip her from the piano, Melanie screaming.

"Daddy's not home yet! I promised! I promised!!" she yelled, tears streaming down her face as she screamed. Charlie stared from his corner in the room, without seeing. One tear fell for his father, the other four fell for his sister and how her world was falling apart.

"He's not home yet!! I promised!!" Melanie tried to glue her fingers back but she stared messing up and couldn't do it anymore, she couldn't see out of her eyes. Dresella threw her across the room, the police tried to stop her as Dresella fell the floor and Melanie ran to her father's office, only to collapse in the little fluffy maroon rug in the floor.

    The music ringing in her ears, she didn't dream those nights in there. She had hallucinations where she was floating in and out of consciousness, where her father would pick her up and hold her, but then she would breathe again and find it false. He would never hold his daughter again. Never see her fall in love or hold her first child. Never walk her down the isle. He wouldn't see her graduate high school or get her first kiss. He would hold her and never let her cry the way he did. She wouldn't ever hear some one refer to her as song bird or little dove. She couldn't stop crying, she didn't think she ever would.

     Her throat and lungs hurt and she was falling apart physically as well as mentally and she wouldn't stop sobbing. As long as she loved her father, there would not be a day she wouldn't sob for him. Wouldn't be a day she wanted to scream or kill herself. Wouldn't be a day where she would wish she was dead so he could hold her.

 

 

She would never hear his voice again. Never hear him telling her how to play the pianoforte the way he always wanted.

 

 

One of the last days she was in the room, she finally remembered his last words to her.

 

"Be good little dove, be good..."

"I promise, Papa...I'll always be good."

 

 

Charlie and Melanie had both broken their promises.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Three whole days that chile stayed in that room. I walked in while she was half-asleep sometimes, and bring her food. She never touched it. I ain't never seen that child so depressed as I did when I seen her walk out that third day. She just wanted to die. You could see it, the way her blue eyes went cold and her skin was so pale and her heart just hardened. That girl wasn't gonna let anyone in for a while. Mista Phillip was really a blessin'. He brought back parta Miss Melly. I don't 'spect we'll ever really have her whole again. Not like she was. Po Miss Melly. I can't imagine what it was like. Charlie was big enough and Victoria was to young to understand. Dresella's never really changed, 'cept bein' more distant, but Melly...her whole world came down. She tol' me once that she was gonna find a way to see him again. That look in her eye....I ain't never been so afraid of anyone 'cept when I saw that look in her eye. I thought that po' girl done lost her mind," Mammy started crying. "I nursed a lotta chilin's, but Melly hadda be the best. And then this happens to her. I always thought God was vengeful, but that girl didn't deserve any of what she's getting. No, sir..."

***

Melanie sat in her father's leather chair, pressing her nose against it.

"It smells like you, Abba..." she whispered. She could she his finger prints on the wood. She smiled, careful not to touch them.

She opened his desk and found the letter he left for her. She remembered coming out of the room on the third day and they were working on father's will, and he had left Melanie a letter. She'd read it a thousand times, but not in six or so years now. Maybe she could gather some meaning now she didn't then. She sighed and held in the tears as she unfold the letter.

 

 

 

 

Dear Melanie,

     Right now, I am sitting at my desk and you are in the floor behind me, playing with Descartes. It's actually rather late and I'm quite sure you lied to me when you said you had a nightmare. When you have nightmares, you cry and get too scared to come out of bed and I have to get you. But I am glad to have your company.

     This is the fifth time I've written this letter. I try to make it deeper and easier for you to understand as the both of us get older and I get closer to leaving you. I apologize for you reading this now, because I know you must be so young. I pray you're not reading this.

 

 

There is a blob of ink on the period, where he held his pen there to long. She smiles as she runs a finger over it.

 

 

    You're just to funny, little dove. Too sweet and too kind. I'd like to take this moment to say how proud I am of you. Not just because you're beautiful. You're beautiful on the inside and out. You care about people and things no one else cares about. You're every thing I imagined having a daughter would be like and more.

     I want to keep writing, to keep listing your perfections, but all I can say now is how proud I am and always will be of you. Stay good. Stay pure. Stay safe. That's all I can ask, darling.

     Keep singing, little dove.

 

I will always love you.

Your Abba.

 

 

 

 

Melanie wiped her eyes.

"I'm so sorry," she whispered. "I love you...so much..."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I just want to let you know I've spent most of the day listening to Alexandre Desplat songs (such an amazing composer, so beautiful). I've gone back and forth on a lot of songs, but I ended up going with this.

 

The song Melanie plays non stop in the flash back is Alexandre Desplat's 'Dreamcatcher'. Better known as one of the Jacob themes from New Moon. So, there you go.

 

I originally planned it to be 'Lily's Theme' from The Deathly Hallows, but decided against it.

 

Go listen to it while reading this some time!

 

-MEG