Sign of Life / MIW Adoption

.nineteen.

Chris' POV
I could feel fear surrounding me, choking me. The fear was coming from Melody. I wanted nothing more than to take it from her. She was safe. I was going to make sure she understood nothing will hurt her again. I rubbed her back as I whispered, "It's just Andy. There's nothing for you to be afraid of."

Melody tightened her hold on my right hand.

"You're safe, kitten. I'm not going to let anything happen to you." I whispered. I thought that Melody was scared because of the knock at the door, afraid to meet another stranger. She's not scared of Andy. Well, she wasn't earlier.

I tightened my left arm around Melody, pulling her small body closer into mine, and held her firmly, "Are you afraid of Andy? He won't hurt you."

"I don't think she's scared." Ricky said.

I moved my eyes over to Ricky, about to ask him what he thinks caused the spike, but Andy spoke first, "She's melancholy."

My heart felt like it was burning. I wasn't going to let sadness sink its dirty claws into Melody. She's so young that she shouldn't even know what sadness is. I felt Melody tighten her hold on Bash and I leaned my head down onto hers, "Hey, I'm right here, kitten. I'm not going to leave your side. You can always tell me anything."

Melody scooted her head closer to mine so her face was completely buried in the side of my neck. She gave a small grunt that sounded like it slipped past her guard. Melody puts up an act of being strong, but she doesn't have to pretend that nothing is bothering her anymore. It must've been horrible growing up in a place where no one cared about your feelings. She doesn't have to hide herself. She's free. I sighed, "Bash is supposed to eat your sad thoughts for breakfast so you can only know happy thoughts."

"Do I need to train Bash?" Vinny asked as he leaned into my side and put his hand on Melody's shoulder, beside Bash, and tapped the stuffed cat's pink nose.

Melody shook her head and pulled Bash completely into her chest. Vinny gave a chuckle, "Bash loves you, Melody. He's new at this and won't know something's bothering you unless you tell him."

Ryan sighed, "If she came from Wellington's then she was trained at a young age to completely detach when sad. Evan was very strict about that."

Melody tensed up when Ryan said the name Evan. I squeezed my right hand so that her small hand inside mine wouldn't slip away from my grip as I gently planted a small kiss on top of her head, "You are safe, kitten. He can't hurt you anymore."

Melody squeezed my hand back in rhythm to my heartbeat and I felt tingles shoot through my arm from her touch. She is so precious. I couldn't imagine anyone doing anything to hurt her. There's no telling what she went through in that place. She has bruises on her arms and legs that could have easily been from another immortal's hand. I lifted my head up to stop the warm tears from prickling my eyes as they tried to form. She had a nasty cut in the palm of her left hand that was done by a knife. The cut went straight and was long enough that she couldn't have done it herself. It couldn't have been easy for someone to cut her like that because she must have fought against them.

Does she think we will do something like that to her? She knows I won't do anything to hurt her and she knows I won't let anything hurt her. She also trusts Vinny and Ricky. Melody has also gotten closer to Justin and I'm positive she trusts Andy. But she isn't a fan of Ryan. Is she afraid Ryan will do something to hurt her? I moved my eyes to Ryan, "I don't think Melody trusts you, Ryan."

Ryan sighed and rolled his eyes, "Great, now I'm the bad guy."

Andy sat down on the opposite couch on the other side of Ryan, "She's afraid of you talking everyone into abandoning her."