Nightingale (Sequel to Solider Boy)

Thirty-Nine

It wasn't even ten minutes since Derrick had left that Melody had another visitor. Sharon. Her friend stood in the doorway of her room, dressed in jeans and a rumpled blouse. Her long hair was pulled back in a ponytail, but it didn't disguise how greasy the strands were. Nor did her attempt at makeup hide the puffy bags under her eyes.

Sharon smiled at her, making her way slowly into the room. "Hey Mel," she approached the seat Derrick had vacated not long before and sat down. "How are you feeling?" She reached across the distance between them and grabbed Melody's hand, the one that didn't' have an IV and squeezed her fingers. 

Melody looked away from her friend. Despite how intelligent Sharon was, she sometimes asked very stupid questions. 

"You really scared me," Sharon said, licking her lips which up close, were chapped. "And I know you're not one for public displays of affection but I really want to hug you. Is that okay?" Melody nodded and Sharon all but leapt from her seat and held her as best she could, careful of the wires and tubes still taped to her skin. "Don't ever do this again," Sharon said, her voice trembling and Melody felt tears drip onto her shoulder. "Please. You're my best friend-you can't die."

"Everyone dies eventually," Melody muttered as she held her friend as well. Her arms felt like lead. "But I'll try and make it to a good age alright?"

"You'd better," Sharon mumbled, drawing away and wiping her streaming eyes with the tips of her fingers. "Or I swear I'll hire a medium just to yell at your ghost."

"I don't believe in ghosts." 

"Yeah," Sharon said, laughing weakly. "I know you don't." She looked down into her lap, tears still moving slowly down her face. They didn't speak for a few minutes, but it didn't matter, the room was loud anyways. Melody could hear the gears whirring in her friends head, trying to map out the scars she now knew of but had never seen. She could hear the questions building in her chest, desperate to be released. She could feel Sharon's eyes boring into her, begging her to open up. She could feel her blue eyes focusing not on her face, but on the scar that was carved into her arm. 

"Stop staring at me," Melody said softly. She hated when people stared-even when they didn't know the truth.

"I'm not."

"Yes, you are," Melody shot back, hearing an edge to her voice. Her hands curled into fists on her blankets. "Stop it."

Sharon sighed. "I'm sorry, I don't mean to. I just...I can't understand any of this." Her hands twisted in her lap. "I mean when the doctors came out and started asking me all these questions about you and talking about scars and old fractures in your X-rays...Mel, I'm your best friend and you never said anything to me. Not once and I don't get it." 

Because if you knew the full story you'd probably throw me in jail Agent Carter. "I don't talk about it," she said flatly as she pulled her blankets a bit farther up to hide the part of the scar that was visible. The gown covered most of the ones of the front and so long as she laid on her back, those were mostly hidden too. Hospital gowns, sadly, where fairly revealing in the back. 

"Mel-."

"I don't want to talk about it." She couldn't talk about it. This was the only part of her rapidly unraveling life she had some semblance of control over. The one part she could slow down. 

"Mel, you have to talk about it," Sharon squeezed her hand. "Your doctors need to know what happened and so do the police." 

Melody drew her hand away from her friend and turned her head away.  "Please," she whispered, feeling a tear leak out of her eye. "Just stop." Scared as she was, Melody couldn't bring herself to shout or panic. She was too exhausted, though her body had been recovering for two weeks, four was the minimum time it took to recover from heart surgery and just laying here, Melody was exhausted, physically and emotionally she was no better off. Her world was crumbling faster and faster by the minute. Everything she'd ever held dear and almost everyone she loved were going to be taken from her for good. It was only a matter of time. 

"What do you want Mel?" Sharon asked, her voice low, a change from the firm but pleading tone she'd used earlier.

Melody shut her eyes. In her heart of hearts, she knew the answer; she wanted to talk to James. Hear his voice again and tell him she was alive and recovering. Tell him that she still loved him and was stupid for leaving. Break down and cry, as she confessed that her entire life was falling into ruin all around her and there was nothing she could do to stop it. That was what she wanted, but it was impossible. James couldn't answer a phone call, it was too risky. Those things could be tracked.

Melody sighed and felt another tear rush down her face. How do I still have so many of these?  she wondered. It had felt like she should have cried herself out for at least a month after everything from Wakanda to Anthony. "Just stay," she whispered, "please. I don't want to be alone right now." You might not stay when you know the truth, she whispered in her mind. Stay for just a little while longer. Please. 

"Okay," Sharon's hand crept over hers again and this time she didn't draw away. Sharon squeezed her hand. "I'll stay as long as you want me to."

"Thank you." But that was a lie, Sharon just didn't know it yet. Already, the way she regarded Melody was changing and when she finally learned the truth, she couldn't imagine that Sharon would stay. Melody's eyes began to close, tears still burning behind her eyelids. She hadn't lost everything yet, but it was only a matter of time. 

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