A/N: This show truly is my guilty pleasure. Please enjoy this one-shot!
Summary: This is the story of a woman who was looking for Mr. Right, the man who came to her house looking for retribution but found a job and a new life instead, and the two kids they raised together. This is the story of Melissa and Joey, the story of a family. One-shot. Complete.
Disclaimer: No characters that you recognize belong to me. They belong to the creators of the show.
Becoming Whole
Or, the evolution of a family
Lennox isn't sure when she began to look for it. Maybe it was the very first day. Maybe it was once she realized that her father was never coming back, that she may never see her mother again.
Maybe that's when she went looking for a family.
She never expected it to find it here.
Here, where her once-wild aunt has now become the crux of the household, the one they all look to. Lennox once thought, in those dark days when her future was uncertain and her family was being torn apart, that as long as she was with Ryder, she didn't care where she ended up. As long as she had her brother, that was enough.
However, if you asked her now, she would easily reply that she wanted to be here, here, that had become almost home, where Aunt Mel asked her about boys and school, and where Joe's cooking could always be smelled when she walked in the door.
Lennox was unaware she had a new father figure in her life until one afternoon during her junior year, when she sat on the couch quietly sniffling to herself and wiping her eyes, hoping that her makeup wouldn't run and make it obvious that she had been crying.
Ryder is up in his room, probably spending more time on his computer than he will on the homework he will swear to Aunt Mel and Joe that he has done later that night at dinner. Lennox knows that her brother won't bother her—he had taken her silence on the way home as a portent of the storm to come, and had wisely made himself scarce.
Lennox quickly glances away from the door as Joe comes striding in, whistling and carrying a basket of laundry.
"Hey, Lennox, have you seen your aunt? She needs to stop leaving loose change in her clothes, it'll ruin the—"
He stops short at the sight of Lennox hastily rubbing her running nose and obviously red-rimmed eyes, as if to hide the evidence.
"What happened?" His voice is hard, but Lennox knows that his anger is not directed at her. It more from concern at seeing her cry, and his overwhelming need to protect them, which Lennox has seen demonstrated many times before.
She twists her fingers in her lap, knowing what his reaction will be. "Brian broke up with me this afternoon."
"That little asshole," Joe growls. "I'll kill him."
Before Lennox can protest, can explain, Joe is off and pacing, the laundry basket discarded and forgotten on the floor.
"You really shouldn't date until you're in college, Lennox. High school guys don't know how to treat girls like you properly. Don't their mothers teach them some respect? I have half a mind to go down there and…"
It's not Lennox who finally slows his tirade. "Whoa, what's going on here?"
Lennox glances up as her aunt enters the room, brows furrowed, clearly following the sound of Joe's raised tones. Her concerned blue gaze skims over Lennox's curled form before fixating on Joe. "What's going on?"
Joe spins to face her, still radiating anger. "Brian broke up with Lennox."
At once, Mel sinks down beside Lennox, and the girl willingly moves into her aunt's arms, needing to be held. It doesn't matter now that she dumped him, and Lennox is sure that if Joe finds out Brian was cheating on her, he actually will kill him. So Lennox says nothing, pillowing her head on Mel's shoulder and watching Joe pace.
"Joe, these are high school relationships," Mel says soothingly, as if Lennox isn't there. "You can't expect them to last forever."
"I don't care," Joe spits back. "No boy is allowed to hurt one of my girls and get away with it. Where does the little snot live, Lennox? I want to go pay him a visit."
Lennox lifts her head a little at his possessiveness as Aunt Mel stiffens, but Joe doesn't seem to notice the reaction his words have garnered. He is still too concerned with exacting some form of punishment, and Lennox cringes, wondering what would happen if Joe made good on his threat to visit Brian.
Mel slides away from Lennox and approaches Joe slowly, as if worried sudden movement will set him off again. "Joe," she says softly, laying a hand on his arm and squeezing, "you can't go after every boy in Lennox's life. I know you want to, but you have to calm down. You're a little crazy right now."
Joe slowly calms under Mel's touch and words, and he runs a hand over his smooth dome, embarrassed. "Yeah, I guess, uh, it wouldn't look too good if I just beat the crap out of the kid, would it?" An idea appears to occur to him. "Lennox, does he play any sports?"
"You are not waiting for him after school to rumble with him. What is this, Grease?" Mel pushes a protesting Joe back into the kitchen, mouthing the words ice cream over her shoulder.
Lennox wipes her eyes and summons a watery smile, nodding in affirmation to the forthcoming ice cream. Her parents might not be there, but Aunt Mel and Joe aren't doing such a bad job.
No one notices Ryder standing at the top of the stairs, fists clenched, his jaw set with the same anger Joe had just exhibited.
Lennox comes home the next afternoon to find Aunt Mel in the kitchen, ranting about how Ryder got in a fight at school and she had to leave an important council meeting to go to the principal's office to talk to Ryder and—
Lennox tunes Aunt Mel out and looks over at Ryder, who is sporting a black eye and grimacing as Joe bandages his bloody knuckles. Far from Aunt Mel's concern and anger, Joe sports an affectionate and proud smile as Ryder attempts not to fidget as he is tended to.
"What'd you do?" Lennox wonders, coming to stand beside her brother. "Did you get in a fight with one of your nerd friends about which computer to use?"
"No," Ryder says quietly, ducking his head in embarrassment now that the adrenaline and testosterone have worn off. "Brian was badmouthing you in gym, so I punched him."
Lennox gapes at her little brother for a moment, and then blushes. Pressing a kiss to his cheek in thanks, she grins up at Joe, who is sporting the same proud grin.
"That's my boy," he says. Which only sends Mel into another rant about how she is not paying Joe to turn Ryder into a delinquent, to pick fights, to come home bloody and hurt and—
Lennox hushes her aunt as she strides past on her way to her room. "Aunt Mel, if Ryder's learning to respect women from Joe, even if that woman is me, it's not such a bad thing."
Leaving her aunt gaping after her, Lennox escapes to her room, reflecting on the three in the kitchen below her before pulling out her phone and texting one of her friends about the latest Brian development, courtesy of her brother.
When did she willingly become a part of this family?
Joe Longo has always been aware of his own magnetism.
Since he hit puberty, girls have been all over him. (Well, maybe not until college, but who was counting?)
But lately, that magnetism has not felt right.
It wasn't that he can't get girls—he has women practically throwing themselves at him when he goes out for groceries—but he always feels odd bringing them home, down to the basement in the house where he works.
He has long since accepted that he will be known as a "freelance nanny" for the foreseeable future, since Louis Scanlon is still on the run and he can't seem to find a job anywhere else. But when he stepped into Mel's home that first day, only intent on keeping the job until he could find better, or get back on his feet, he had no idea how his life would change. How he would change.
Joe finds that he enjoys the home life. It reminds him of the home he had growing up, those warm memories where his mom taught him how to cook and his dad took him to the park, before he had to grow up and life became unfair.
While Joe would never admit it to anyone, he enjoys seeing Lennox and Ryder come in the door from school, enjoys teaching Ryder how to deal with dating and girls and even doesn't mind Lennox's teenage drama. (Much.)
Joe can't deny how much he enjoys Mel. While he still brings home girls occasionally, and while Tiffany, (yes, his ex-wife) still has his number for the occasional hook-up, he finds that increasingly he feels guilty for entertaining a woman in the basement when he knows that Mel is a few floors above, sleeping.
It almost feels like cheating.
It's not, but Joe can't shake the feeling, and so he finds that while his magnetism still attracts women, he turns them down more often than not. These days, he is content to sit on the couch and watch TV then pretend he has better things to do when Mel comes home from another date.
Oh, he makes jibes, and cracks about the men's various ages and personalities, but he knows that he has to do something soon. The idea of leaving is one that he has contemplated too many times and shoved aside with a variety of excuses as to why he cannot. (He has to stay, the kids need him to drive them to school, the house would be a mess without him, Mel would never be able to find anything…)
One night, after Senator Burke has visited and the house has settled from the tornado he has stirred up, (tried to buy Ryder a car to boost his popularity, and again the kids learned a lesson about being materialistic) Joe and Mel lounge at the kitchen table, enjoying their now-traditional glass of red wine. Every few nights, after Ryder and Lennox have gone to their rooms (but not to bed, because it's not even midnight yet) Joe and Mel enjoy a glass of red wine and discuss the day's events.
It occurs to Joe—not for the first time—that what they are doing is eerily similar to what spouses do at the end of the day—wind down, talk about their kids, make plans for the week, and go to bed.
Once, the idea of having a family, being so committed, would have sent him running. Yes, he had married Tiffany, and been faithful to her, but they had rarely talked about having children. Tiffany was too preoccupied with herself to worry about anyone else.
Joe finds that he doesn't mind the idea of a family, as long as the image is of this one.
"You know, Burke," he muses as he swills his red wine around in the glass, fingers tapping the stem, "I think you're the only Burke in your family I really like."
Mel's raised eyebrows send him quickly covering his tracks. "You know, besides the kids."
"Are you drunk?" Mel asks, tilting her head to the side, puzzled. "You never complement me. Well, hardly ever."
Joe smiles, thinking of the music box that sits upstairs on her dresser, that he knows holds all her jewelry, that he knows she loves and plays every night. "Just the wine talking, Burke. Don't take it too seriously."
Sometimes he wishes she would.
Mel isn't sure when her nanny became her husband.
Not literally of course, but metaphorically. (Oh, you get it!)
It isn't until Stephanie is excitedly squealing about her first date in ages that Mel realizes that she too, hasn't had a date in awhile. As she's packing up her briefcase to leave work, it occurs to her that perhaps she should be upset about that.
She, Melissa Burke, wild, crazy, dance-until-dawn Mel Burke, has become a mother (in a metaphorical sense, of course). And in this metaphor, her nanny has become her husband.
Mel discovers that she doesn't go out as often, that it doesn't bother her that she doesn't go out much any more. Yes, guys still ask for her number, cute guys still flirt, but at the end of a long day, after Lennox and Ryder have been taken care of and all teenage crises have been averted, Mel finds that it's easier to settle down beside Joe and watch some TV before she goes to bed than heading out for a late night on the town.
She still goes out with her girlfriends, but her dates of the male variety grow increasingly less frequent. She knows Joe and the kids notice, but they are all wise enough not to say anything, which is fine with her.
It's not until Lennox and Ryder both leave for various friends' houses one night that she realizes the teenagers might be match-making. Joe makes a lovely dinner for them both, and Mel knows she should ask why he's in a Friday night instead of out with a girl, but finds that she doesn't care, nor does she want an answer.
After dinner, they retire to the couch with their customary glasses of wine, and the conversation dwindles after all talk of the kids has been exhausted. They were watching some movie—Mel doesn't know which, Joe picked the channel—and much to her surprise, Mel finds herself drifting off on Joe's shoulder.
A nudge rouses her hours later, and blinking blearily at the clock, Mel notices that it is nearly four o'clock in the morning. The house is quiet and dark around them; the only light comes from the TV screen, which casts a soft light over everything as commercials flicker by in a haze.
Joe is leaning over her, and Mel focuses on his face, blinking hard. "Hey, Burke, come on, get up. Time for bed."
"Too tired," Mel whines, wondering when she became one of those women who feel asleep the moment ten o'clock rolled around.
Joe's lips quirk up into an amused smile, and his arms unexpectedly curl around her, lifting her up easily. "You know, Burke," he says casually, brushing the tendrils of blonde hair out of her face, "you're pretty cute when you sleep."
"Okay, this has to be a dream," Mel says, pushing him away and lifting herself sleepily from the comfortable cushions. "You never say nice things to me."
"You also snore," Joe helpfully adds, chuckling as Mel swipes at him. He backs away, hands held up in surrender. "Hey, just tellin' the truth."
"Good night, Joe," Mel says pointedly, winding her way towards the stairs, dreaming of her bed and warm covers.
Joe's hand on her arm stops her with one foot on the stairs, and she turns to see a look in her nanny's eyes that she always thought she had imagined, when she caught glimpses of it before.
Their gazes lock, and Mel suddenly can't breathe. It's odd, that one moment with her nanny in a dark house after a movie night could be so sensual, that she could feel so warm. Her body's reaction is not a new one to her, and she knows without a doubt that every time she denied her attraction to Joe, she was lying to herself.
Joe's eyes are soft as one hand moves to gently touch her cheek. His head descends slowly, giving her time to back away, to speak, to make some movement to deny him.
Mel doesn't move.
The kiss is short, sweet, innocent, but Mel tastes a promise on his lips, a tempting idea of what more of Joe Longo would be like. To her surprise, Mel is breathing hard as they part—a reaction she hasn't had to a kiss since her last serious boyfriend, back in undergrad.
Joe's lips curl into that smug, cocky Longo grin, but his eyes are softer, telling a different story. "Good night, Mel."
He leaves her there, one foot on the bottom step, gaping after him in the darkness of the pre-dawn shadows, wondering what just happened, what it all would mean.
The next few weeks are awkward.
Mel has no idea how to act around Joe, and it is clear Joe impulsively kissed her, because he seems to have no idea how to act around her either. The kids notice the tension, and although Mel catches Lennox's smirks in her direction (damn the girl's female intuition!) Ryder is thankfully more oblivious, merely believing Mel and Joe have had one of their spats again.
The awkward dance finally ends a few weeks later, when the kids both vacate the house again for the night. This time, Mel suspects that Lennox has orchestrated the scheme, as Ryder had complained about missing some game on TV, but his sister had hushed him and dragged him out of the house.
This time, there is less TV watching and more kissing, helped by the wine that both Mel and Joe had been imbibing earlier that evening, to ease the uncomfortable tension between them, each unsure of what to do, wanting to break it but clueless as to how.
Despite the buzz the wine has given her, it is with a clear head that Mel pulls away from Joe. The man looks confused and a little apprehensive as she stands, sure he has done something wrong.
His expression clears of all puzzlement as Mel extends her hand to him, her invitation evident. His hand slides into her own, warm and comforting, his smile all the answer she needs.
As Mel leads Joe up to her room, she does not deliberate over whether or not it was wise to do so. With every other man, she had fretted over what the kids would think, finding a man staying over. With Joe, Mel has no qualms.
He belongs here.
Ryder is once again in a suit that is a little too tight, once again wielding a video camera, and once again his sister is barking orders at him.
Ryder hates weddings.
He hasn't been to many, but does Lennox always have to be so bossy whenever she takes it upon herself to be involved? Granted, her role is bigger in this particular wedding, as is his.
Ryder catches one of the teenage ushers—one of Joe's cousins, maybe?—watching Lennox a little too keenly. With her hair up and the blue dress she's wearing catching the red and gold highlights in her coiffed tresses, it occurs to Ryder that his sister has grown up, and might even be considered by some to be hot. It is not a comforting thought.
So far, though, Lennox seems oblivious to the underage attention, which means Ryder won't be ruining this wedding by warning guys to stay away from his sister, by force if he has to.
"Aunt Mel wants to make sure that the caterers are here."
"They should be, if you don't scare them off again with your radical ideals."
Lennox glares at him. "Shut up, Ryder. You're doing the wedding video. I don't think that means you need to talk. Can you just go see if they're here?"
"Fine," Ryder grumbles, deciding not to point out that he and Lennox still have to record their messages to the happy couple.
As he wanders towards the large white tent that will house the food and the reception, switching off the camera as he goes, Ryder is accosted by Joe, well dressed in a tux and looking panicked.
"Ryder, buddy," he says, catching the young man by the arm, "I may have lost the rings."
"What?" Ryder blinks at him. "Man, Aunt Mel is going to kill you!"
"Don't tell me things I already know," Joe snaps, running a hand over his head—he has grown hair for this event, dark and barely longer than a buzz cut. "Just go find them, will you, please? I think I left them in the drawer in my bedside table."
"Oh," Joe adds, snagging Ryder as he pivots towards the house. "Just, uh, check the top drawer. Don't go any farther down or you might, uh, find some toys and things you aren't meant to see."
Ryder blanches at the mention of Joe's sex life. "Gross!"
Joe smirks at him. "Not to me, buddy. Now go!"
Ryder weaves his way through the crowd, tromping into the house and escaping to the quiet upper floor, where there are no guests save the bride and the maid of honor.
"You're not supposed to see the bride before the wedding!" Aunt Mel's panicked admonishment sails from beyond the partially opened bathroom door, and Ryder hovers in the doorway, unsure.
Lennox, looking up, waves him in. "It's just Ryder, Aunt Mel," she calls, before taking a sip of the flask she's holding. When Ryder raises a brow in question, she rolls her eyes and waves him away. "If you'd been dealing with her all day," she says quietly, "you'd need a drink too. Do what you came to do and get out before she eats you!"
"I heard that!"
Brother and sister cringe, glancing towards the bathroom door, but Mel does not emerge. Hastening to the bedside table, Ryder heeds Joe's warning and only opens the top drawer, sighing with relief as he locates the velvet black box waiting within.
"Joe forgot the rings, didn't he?"
Ryder whirls around and quickly stuffs his hands in his pockets, hiding the box. "Uh, no?"
Mel, who seems to be floating in a cloud of tulle and lace, her veil thrown over one arm and her hair trailing around her shoulders, rolls her eyes in exasperation. "Tell that man he's lucky I love him," she instructs Ryder, sailing back into the bathroom, the queen of her castle on this day.
Bobbing his head in acknowledgment, Ryder grimaces sympathetically at Lennox and makes his escape.
"She says you're lucky she loves you," Ryder reported dutifully, handing over the box to a grateful Joe.
"Don't I know it," Joe said fervently, flipping open the box and just quickly closing it with a snap. "Thanks, man, I owe you."
"A new car?" Ryder asks hopefully, only to have his dreams dashed as Joe shakes his head.
"Not a chance, man." He claps his hand on Ryder's shoulder. "Hey, I got a family to support now!"
"Joe…" Ryder whines after him as the man makes his way towards the bower set up at the farthest end of the yard, where the minister is waiting.
"Not today, Ryder," Joe admonishes him. "Now put that camera down and get up here."
Sighing, Ryder places the camera on a nearby table and moves to stand on Joe's left, just as they had practiced the night before. As the music begins and everyone rises, Ryder looks up to see Lennox walking down the aisle, clutching her bouquet and grinning.
Ryder remembers the morning he came downstairs to find Aunt Mel wrapped in Joe's arms in the middle of the kitchen. He had clearly intruded on an intimate moment, as Aunt Mel was wearing nothing but a shirt that looked suspiciously like Joe's, while Joe wore no shirt at all.
Ryder at stood frozen in the shadows, gaping at the sight before him. He had turned and fled as Joe leaned down and kissed Aunt Mel fully on the lips, his mind reeling. When he had told Lennox the news later that day, his sister had seemed unsurprised. When he pressed, she told him that she had known for weeks. Joe had moved his stuff into Aunt Mel's room a week after they had started sleeping together, and Lennox had once caught them making out on the couch as she snuck home from a party.
Ryder hadn't been sure of the arrangement at first, but once he discovered that not much had changed beyond the fact that Joe now took Aunt Mel out to a nice restaurant every once in awhile, he decided it wasn't so bad. Aunt Mel and Joe still bickered, Joe still made them amazing food, and life went on.
Now, as Joe and Aunt Mel turned to their waiting guests and were pronounced "Mr. and Mrs. Longo," Ryder leaned towards Joe, who was grinning, beaming at his new wife.
"Welcome to the family."
Fin
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