I know in the show that Mel didn't have the greatest relationship with her parents- but this is just my take on a oneshot. Its in her father's view, of his daughter's wedding to Ben. Read and review, please!
Love Rhyleigh xoxox
"I am so proud of you", Pat Bannon whispered to his daughter. His only daughter, his little girl.
Melissa just smiled up at her father. "I know, Daddy".
"Ben's a good guy, Melissa. He's lucky to have you".
"Doesn't he know it!" Melissa's voice wavered slightly as she hugged her father tight.
Pat sighed. It didn't seem possible that the gorgeous young woman standing in front of him, in a white wedding gown, was the little baby that was no bigger than his forearm. The little girl he had held wrapped in a little pink blanket, rocking her gently. The daredevil that had climbed trees with her brothers, and hadn't cried once when she fell. Her knees were faintly scared from her rough and tumble childhood, but Pat couldn't get past the sweet, innocent little face that had persuaded him to let her stay up way past her bedtime.
"Daddy!" six year old Melissa squealed, thundering down the hallway, almost tripping over her too-long pyjamas pants.
"Yeah?" Pat called, catching her as she flew into his arms. Picking her up, he kissed her nose. "What happened, kiddo? I heard a fall!"
"Dermott pushed me off the bed!"
"Did you hurt yourself?" immediately, Pat lowered the little girl to her feet and began checking for scratches and scrapes. Instead, he found the beginnings of a bruise on her shin.
"It didn't hurt, Daddy", Melissa assured him.
"Okay. Well, then, I think it's time for bed. Have you brushed your teeth?"
"Yep!"
"Let's go!" Pat once again lifted her into his arms, kissing her cheek. "Time for bed, kiddo!"
"But Daddy! Can't I stay up a little bit longer?"
Even at six years old, Melissa knew she could manipulate her father into doing what she wanted. It was something she had learned from a very young age, and, being the only girl, had began to use it to her advantage.
Pat tore his eyes from her deep, chocolate brown ones. "Not tonight, Mel. You've got school in the morning".
"But Daddy..." Melissa protested.
Pat Bannon knew he had lost this round of the daily bedtime battles. And it was time to hand the sweet little girl over to his wife, who didn't fall for her tricks.
Pat smiled at the memory, watching his daughter dance with his newly acquired son-in-law. He remembered teaching her how to dance, as a little girl. Melissa would stand on his feet and he would dance her around the lounge room, her mother and brothers laughing. It was times like this he missed, when Melissa gave up on contact with the family.
Pat had been hard on Ben when they first met- he didn't think anyone would be good enough for his daughter. But Ben had proved him wrong- they didn't have their own house, but they had each other, and for Ben and Melissa, that was all that mattered.
All Pat was glad for was that the wedding had been a success. Melissa's first wedding had been a disaster- her fiancée had got cold feet and left her at the altar. It turned out for the best- Shannon and Melissa were better off as friends than lovers. And, as it turned out, Shannon was gay.
"They're a beautiful couple, aren't they?" Julie Rafter, the mother of Melissa's husband, remarked, moving closer towards the Bannon parents.
Lynda was first to agree. "Gorgeous".
"We love Mel like a daughter", Dave Rafter added. "Today just made it official".
Pat smiled. "She's loveable, that girl".
It was right then that the song changed to U2's classic, 'The Sweetest Thing'.
Blue eyed boy meets a brown eyed girl
Oh, it's the sweetest thing
Pat had to smile. 'Brown Eyed Girl' was the song that, when Melissa was a little girl, had dubbed as 'their song'. It fitted perfectly- and Pat had warbled it out on many occasions. At home, Melissa had handled it, and laughed.
However, in public, she hadn't approved.
It didn't matter how old Melissa Bannon got. Her father would always see her as the little baby he had rocked in his arms, the little girl he had danced with and tucked into bed at night, the little girl he had fixed her scrapes and cuts with Band Aids and kisses. He saw the teenager that had rebelled against everything he said, but did it anyway. The girl who had come incredibly close to burning down their shoebox sized house cooking nachos, and the girl who had smashed the tennis ball around with her brothers on their annual beach getaways, in the midst of a game of cricket.
Pat Bannon saw the little girl in pink fairy pyjamas, the teenager wearing a black bikini on the beach, and the amazingly beautiful young woman standing in front of him in a white wedding gown.
But it was the same girl- the same brown eyed girl.