You Are Nought To Me.
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters from GWTW
Warning: If you don't like Slash love stories, or if you don't want to see slash in this classic between Scarlett/Melanie, then I suggest that you not read any further. If on the other hand you don't mind, then please read and review. :)
Scarlett O'Hara was not beautiful and neither was she stupid. She knew how to put on airs and she knew what men liked, maybe not as good as Belle Watling, but she knew enough. What she didn't ever expect she'd have to know, however, is what women like.
The scene was Aunt Pity Pats Charleston home, on a cold winter's night, long after Aunt Pity Pat had taken her nightly pills and smelled her salts, and the house had all but fallen silent. The only sound was that of the wind rushing through the willows outside the windows, and beating in bursts against the glass itself. Scarlett lay awake, uncomfortable, and cold in her spacious bed. She had only lain with Melanie's brother twice, but already she missed, not him, but the companionship of another in her bed. Many times at Tara, her sister Sue Ellen or even her mother would amble into bed with her, if it was too cold or Scarlet was scared and the night seemed to pass easier. Now, however, there was no Mother, and no Sue Ellen, and even no Charles Hamilton to curl up against and make the horrid sounds of night disappear. Because if Scarlett was afraid of anything it was the disquiet of being alone and idle, something she always went to great lengths to avoid. A particularly hard burst of wind on the window, made Scarlet jump, and a tree branch scrapped roughly against the house.
"That's it, I'll be damned if I stay in here another minuet!" Scarlett declared angrily, she got up determinedly and wrapped a bed robe firmly around her shoulders. She headed towards the door, without even lighting a candle. She was going to go to Melanie's room and sleep with her, this thought had barley crossed her mind when she reached her bedroom door, and then with her hand on the brass knob she froze. Mouse Melanie! She thought, and a hot flush crossed her lovely ivory skin, she would rather die than to let meek little Melanie, Ashley's wife, see her show any weakness. And here she faced a dilemma. She had barley considered the notion of going to Aunt Pity Pats room, for one she knew the old lady wouldn't be happy with the idea, and too Aunt Pity smelled of iodine and smelling salts. The wind beat still more fiercely against the glass, and Scarlett drew the robe tighter with her left hand, still standing resolutely at the door. She was contemplating her alternatives, when the door swung open full force and smacked her in the face. Scarlett collapsed to the floor.
"Oh Scarlett!" Came a fragile voice that could only belong to one human being on the planet. "Oh, darling, I am sorry!" Soft tiny hands were on Scarlett's face touching the throbbing bloody cut on her mouth. Scarlett jerked away angrily from her touch.
"Melanie, what in God's name we're you doing coming bursting in here like that." Scarlett snapped as she used the bed post to pull herself to her feet. She touched her face gingerly, and felt the warmth of her own blood on her finger tips, it wasn't too bad, but it sure did hurt. Scarlett could only just see Melanie in the moonlight from the window, but it was a fuzzy outline that was dark, and Scarlett thought how much like a porcelain doll she looked just then. She had a strange image of Ashley putting the doll Melanie in a box and tying a pink ribbon around it, and she scowled. Melanie hesitated a moment, and then gingerly stepped forward towards Scarlett.
"I couldn't sleep, Scarlett, and well, it was foolish I know, but I'm not brave like you, and I thought you might not mind if I came to sleep with you. You see I've never had a sister, and I- well I am tired of sleeping with Aunt Pity Pat." The words embarrassed Scarlett for a reason she didn't know, and suddenly she was terrified that Melanie might be aware that she had had the same idea.
"Oh Melly! Well get into the bed, before you blunder again."
"Oh I am sorry, you are alright aren't you, Scarlett darling?" Scarlett frowned again, shook off her robe, and climbed back into bed.
"Stop calling me darling, Melly, I'm not your darling Ashley is." To this remark Melanie said nothing, and in the darkness Scarlett couldn't tell if she had smiled or frowned. When Melanie didn't move towards the bed Scarlett sighed impatiently,
"Well?"
"I don't want to bother you, Scarlett."
"Fiddly Dee, Melly! You're bothering me now by not getting in this bed." Melanie obliged this time, and she slid down delicately into the bed beside Scarlett. Scarlett noticed that she smelled of lilac soap and lavender. Melanie hesitated a moment more, before climbing into the bed beside Scarlett.
The wind still howled beyond the window, but Scarlett barley heard it now. The simple presence of another calmed her entirely, though she would be loath to admit it. It suited Scarlett all the better to image a frightened Melanie running to her room for protection against the night noises, and now, Melanie would think that Scarlett hadn't been bothered at all. "I'm not brave like you," she had said. Scarlett smiled to herself in the dark, and immediately winced because of the cut on her lip. Melanie must have heard her for from the other side of the bed for her voice suddenly came,
"You shouldn't smile Scarlett, it will only cause your lip to bleed more," Scarlett frowned at Melanie's perceptiveness. How had she known that she was smiling? Perhaps, she thought suddenly fearful; Melanie could read, and was following, her own thoughts. But that was silly, and Scarlett knew it.
"Thanks to you flying in here like a scared cat," Scarlett retaliated annoyed by Melanie's intuitiveness. Melanie turned over onto her side so that she faced Scarlett, her brow knitted. In the moonlight from the window, Scarlett was surprised to see how very much like a ghost Melanie looked, like an ivory ghost with dark eyes and hair, Scarlett shivered it was like a formidable beauty had just turned her supernatural senses upon her.
"Why were you standing at the door Scarlett?"
"My, curious like a cat too? Why, its just that I was cold and went to get my robe, and then I thought I heard someone coming down the hall, so I went to the door, and that's when you opened it. There satisfied?" Scarlett jabbed, thinking of Ashley lying beside this same woman on his wedding night, and how many other nights there after Scarlett didn't know, she didn't want to know.
"Oh, I am prying aren't I? And to think Scarlett, you were so brave to go to the door to see who it was, why, for all you knew I could've been a murderer lose in the house. And then to reward you for your courage I hit you in the face, Oh dar- I mean Scarlett, I'm am sorry, please let me see." Small little hands suddenly slipped out from under the covers and were on Scarlett's face, stroking her lip before Scarlett could protest. It amazed Scarlett that no matter how cruel, or straight forward she was to Melanie, Melanie continued to love her so dearly. Here she was beaming at her bravery beside her in the bed, and stroking her face with her soft small feminine hands. How much Melanie reminded her of her mother, or at least the virtues that her mother would have liked and wanted in a daughter. Scarlett knew that Ellen O'Hara would have been ashamed of Scarlett for hating Melanie, when Melanie so obviously loved her, and she also knew, of course, that her mother would have been even more ashamed at Scarlett's chasing of Melanie's husband. But for all she tried, Scarlett just couldn't be that woman that her mother had wanted her to be. Scarlett wasn't, Sue Ellen hadn't been, even her youngest sister had failed in that respect, but Melanie, Melanie had succeeded in every aspect. Melanie was the true embodiment of womanhood. Sweet, naive, and innocent, it frustrated Scarlett to the point that she wanted to shake the other woman, and show her reality. Expose her to the world that Scarlett could see, and lived in. All of this went though Scarlett's head as Melanie gently stroked Scarlett's upper lip.
"Does that hurt?" Melanie asked quietly, and the limbs from the willow tree outside scrapped harshly against the glass panes.
"No," Scarlett answered in an equally hushed tone, staring at Melanie's own face. Thinking of Ashley, and wondering what he saw in this frail person.
"Melanie, can I ask you something?"
"Of course you can, Scarlett, we're sisters aren't we?" Scarlett fidgeted trying to think of a way to frame her question so that Melanie would understand.
"Has, well did you and Ashley, did you do anything after you were married, before he went away, I mean, did he do anything to you?" Scarlett waited for the words to take effect, but when they did, she smiled to herself because just as she had expected Melanie's eyes got a little wider, and her face turned a shade more crimson. She didn't care about Melanie's embarrassment though; she just had to know for certain. If Ashley hadn't taken his wife, then she knew she was safe, and that he really didn't love Melanie, after all. However, if he had taken her, well he was a man she supposed, but still, Scarlett hoped he hadn't.
"What do you mean?" Melanie asked shyly, avoiding Scarlett's eyes. Scarlett gave a half smile, but even that hurt so she frowned again.
"Well Melly, I'm only wondering because, Charles and I….well we, we did the strangest thing before he left and I was just wondering if you had done the same thing." Melanie bit her lip, Scarlett could tell she was extremely uncomfortable, and Scarlett relished in that. But when Melanie didn't answer, Scarlett pressed the point.
"Did he share your bed?"
"Yes." Melanie said tentiveley,
"Well why are you so embarrassed for, its just sister to sister isn't it. Why, I told Sue Ellen about it. All sisters tell each other these things."
"They do?" Melanie asked amazed, finally looking back up at Scarlett. "Oh, well I didn't know that, Scarlett, I've never had a sister."
"I know, goose, so I forgive you, but you can tell me, don't be shy. How did he kiss you?" Scarlett had just seen the full potential of her lie. She would never, ever, in a million years have talked about her sex life to Sue Ellen, but having Melanie think that all sisters shared these intimate details with one another, gave her a new level of control over her.
"How?" Melanie's brow furrowed again in confusion, while rain started to beat against the glass along with the wind. "Normally, I suppose."
"Normally?" Scarlett asked in the same confused tone that Melanie had just used. "But what do you mean, do you mean he kissed you just on the lips, or did he use his tongue or…"
"His tongue! Oh Scarlett!" Melanie buried her face in her hands, and flipped onto her stomach burrowing herself down into the feather mattress. Scarlett actually laughed at that, it was quite a sight to be seen. Laughing, still, she grasped Melanie's shoulder and attempted to turn her back around to face her.
"Oh Melly, every man knows about using their tongue, it's a French technique. I'm sure Ashley knows, he just wasn't sure if you'd approve, plus it takes practice, maybe Ashley just isn't good at it." Finally after enough coaxing Melanie raised herself up on her elbows, Scarlett was surprised to see that she was smiling.
"Oh no I'm sure he's good at it, Ashley's good at…everything." Scarlett gasped; she would never have expected Melanie to be so blunt. Jealousy raged through her veins, as well as did, she was ashamed to admit it, genuine surprise (for some reason she had assumed Ashley would be bad in bed.) Melanie glimpsed a shy look at Scarlett's face before, giggling and reddening more. "Oh, Scarlett, I wish we had always been sisters. I can't talk to anyone like I can you. You are wonderful." Melanie leaned her head against Scarlett's shoulder and sighed, with one of her small hands she picked at Scarlett's sleeve. Scarlett said nothing, but simply looked at the rain on the window and reflected. This woman has kissed Ashley, Scarlett thought, Ashley said he loves her, why? What does she have that I don't have, why can't he love me? Scarlett trembled with the injustice of it, causing Melanie to rise up and look concernedly into Scarlett's face. "Scarlett, you're trembling, are you alright?"
"I'm fine." Scarlett lied. She was suddenly extremely weary of talking with Melanie, she had never talked so long to any other woman who wasn't her family or mammie in her life. Why should she? What good were women anyway? They were a bunch of ninnies. In her mind she suddenly wondered what it was men saw in women. Her eyes swept up Melanie's exterior; she was meek and thin, with small breasts and small hips. Mousy brown hair, and dark chocolate brown eyes, nothing about her was in any way exotic or even beautiful, just fragile. Scarlett could still breath in the light scent of lilac and lavender that surrounded Melanie, and saw the gentle furrow of her brow, she then realized that she was staring and felt embarrassed. "Yes I'm fine, just tired."
"Yes, it is late, why don't we both try and get some sleep." Melanie then leaned in to kiss Scarlett on the cheek, but Scarlett in fear of her brushing the cut on her lip turned her head at the last moment so that Melanie's kiss landed smack dab on Scarlett's mouth. A violent pang coursed through Scarlett's body, and she actually whimpered and jerked away in pain.
"Oh, did I hit your lip?" Melanie asked stroking Scarlett's arm, and face.
"Yes, you did." Scarlett spouted quickly as if she had been caught doing something bad."
"Oh, you poor darling," conned Melanie, as she might a child, and leaned forward to embrace Scarlett. Encircling her with her little arms and pressing her little body to Scarlett's. Scarlett imagined Melanie encircling Ashley in her arms, and anger overtook her. She pulled Melanie's arms off of her, and turned over in the bed, with her back to Melanie.
"I'm tired." She said simply, guiltily.
"Yes, well, in the morning we will have Doctor Mead look at that lip. Goodnight Scarlett, sleep well." But Scarlett didn't sleep for a long time, and when she did it certainly wasn't well.
Hope you liked chapter 1, please review.