The TV Challenge

Prompt Two: How I Met Your Mother

The Ride

2029

She wanted a red drop top convertible for her sixteenth birthday. Instead she got a dusty used motorcycle, a helmet with a dent in it, and a small silver disc.

Melanie waited until she was alone to slide the disc into her player. The image flicked onto the screen and she saw a man that existed for her only through old movies, photos and her mother's endless stories.

"Stone Cold, you may proceed at your leisure," she heard her Uncle Spin say from off screen.

The sound of his voice, twenty years younger, and the silly formal way he used to speak, plus seeing the image of her dad sitting on the couch in the Penthouse, his pool table that was now in their media room in full view behind him, brought tears to Melanie's eyes. Half happy and half sad.

She said "Hi, Dad" to her father.

Her whole life had been spent trying to figure out who Jason Morgan had been. Trying to detangle the legend and the myth from the man. The criminal the cops said he was from the saint her mother spoke about.

Jason cleared his throat. "Happy birthday, baby girl."

Her lips quivered. Baby girl. He always called her that.

Jason looked pale in this video, much more so than the last one she watched. The time stamp said it was more than a month after he made the last message she had gotten from him- the one for her to watch after her first day of high school.

Every time she watched one of his messages she quickly did the math to see how far along her mom was in her pregnancy when Jason made this one. When the first message had been recorded, for Melanie to listen to when she started kindergarten, Carly was five months pregnant.

There were more made during that month: one for when Melanie joined a sports team and they lost their first game, one for the first time some kid made fun of her, one for the whole family to watch during Christmas. They watched that one every year. They had long since stopped crying during it and laughed now at how Uncle Spin had tried to get Jason to wear a Santa hat during the taping and how the Christmas tree in the background tumbled over when Uncle Spin tripped on a cord for the lights when he was rushing to answer the door. Right after they watched the video each year, Carly would take out a box that was taped close. Inside Jason left presents for each of them. It was almost like he was there...almost.

Though the presents were always great to get Melanie would have taken a simple kiss on the cheek from her Dad over any heart shaped locket or diamond tennis bracelet.

"Sixteen, huh?" Jason asked with a small smile.

She sniffled at how frail he looked, so much weaker than he had in the earlier videos. Looking at the date at the bottom of the screen she knew that it was just a few weeks before she was born and less than a month before Jason died when he made this message to her.

Their lives had barely overlapped at all.

There existed just one recording of him holding her, as he lay in bed and she rested on his bare chest. Though they had spent more than that single moment together, for Melanie, it felt like that was the full sum of her time with her Dad, those few minutes when her head rested against his heart, when he was dying and she was just starting to live.

"I guess..." Jason said "you'll probably want to start dating soon."

She smiled slightly, as she thought about the fact that she had been seeing Garret Hunter for the last three months, all behind her mom's back.

Jason went on "And drive. I left you my motorcycle but I don't want you on it until you take a class and then you only go out riding with your brothers for the first few times..." On their sixteen birthdays Michael and Morgan had both gotten motorcycles from Jason, delivered by Milo Giambetti both times. Even though it was dangerous as hell to ride, Jason had left a letter to each of them telling that if they were going to take the risk then he wanted them to do it right way, after taking a class and with a safe bike and helmet. Not doing it on the sly behind their mother's back. "I could tell you to not ever get on a bike but, if you are anything like your mom, you'll do what you want anyway. Just be careful." He paused, took in a few shaky breaths, and added "That's how I always cleared my head...riding."

Melanie had expected to get a brand new bike herself for this birthday- even though she wanted a just off the showroom floor convertible instead- but she ended up with her father's old bike. Somehow it made not getting a sports car suddenly seem like no big deal. The bike she now owned was the same one her parents had ridden on together. It was in mint condition, unlike the old leather coat her mom still wore around sometimes. That was falling to pieces but Carly couldn't let it go. She swore it still smelled like Jason. Though Melanie didn't think that was possible.

But her mom said a lot of things about Mel's dad that seemed impossible- like that he saved her life over and over through the years even after he was long dead. When Carly was in a car wreck, Jason had saved her from dying, in her mind at least, by pulling her out of the car. The police told her that she drug herself out but she swore that she couldn't remember doing that. It had to have been Jason, Carly insisted.

When she was mugged and the guy had a heart attack half way through, even though he was in his twenties only, it wasn't that he had a weak ticker, it was that Jason had punched him in the chest. Mel just rolled her eyes when she heard that kind of stuff but in the back of her mind she wondered if it was true. Was it her Dad that pulled her out of the freezing cold water when she was seven years old and fell through the pond that she wasn't supposed to be on. She had been sure she didn't have the strength to climb out alone but somehow she pulled it off, just before she lost consciousness and would have slipped to the icy depths below.

She focused on the tape again as her father said "I'm not sure what to tell you about the other thing...dating....Michael has a girlfriend now and it drives your mom crazy."

Suddenly a full blown smile creased Melanie's lips, one that mirrored exactly her mother and Aunt Lulu's trademark devilish grins. Mel chuckled softly as she thought that whatever Michael and Tina, who had been his wife for eight years now, used to do back in the day couldn't compare to the stuff she did on the down low now.

Jason went on "So don't you pull the same stuff on her. No sneaking out after curfew when you are supposed to be in bed. No lying about who you will be with when she lets you go out on weekends. No getting your brothers and your best friend to cover for you. And don't even think about trying to..." Jason starting coughing.

"Stone Cold, here, a drink from the...Gods." The way Spin said the last word was choked, as if he realized too late that it wasn't the best turn of phrase in that particular situation.

After Jason took a drink, he said "Trying to steal a yatch for a late night party. But if you do all that anyway, baby girl, then expect to get caught every time cause your Mom...Carly...she pulled every stunt you can even think about and she'll see your moves coming from a mile away."

Melanie raised her hand and grasped the locket that hung around her neck, absently fingering it. Inside were pictures of her parents taken around the first summer they met.

Jason told his daughter "I want you to have fun. You're in high school now and I know that you want your freedom already. You want to make your own rules. But remember that all the rules your Mom gives you...they are for your own sake. So don't give her a hard time...too much, okay? And remember...that boy...guy...you fall for...he's just one guy and if he hurts you....you will recover. I won't lie to you though....I won't say that he probably is not gonna turn out to be someone really important to your life because that could be a lie. And I have never lied to you......and I never will. I don't know if the first guy you date or the second or the third will be the guy who....changes everything....I just know that it can happen out of no where and you don't realize it until later." For a long moment he was silent, as he blinked back tears. "When I met Carly...your mom...all I wanted was to be on my own. Do my own thing. Make my own rules. Not owe anyone anything. But it didn't stay that way for long. I know I've told you....all about...how I helped your mom take care of your brother when he was a baby...and I'm sure you've heard a lot of stories about all the times your mom and I were there for each other from her..and somebody could have told you by now that your mom somehow tricked me or trapped me or something...don't believe it. She didn't. She couldn't. That's the thing, baby girl. When you meet that person who is gonna be your best friend and gonna be the one you fall in love with and gonna be the game changer in your world....you don't feel trapped and you don't stay with them through the worst out of....obligation..."

Melanie sniffled.

Jason went on, speaking slowly and deliberately, "You want to be with them, by their side, more than you want to be loyal to anyone else. I wanted to always be there when your Mom and later when your brothers needed me....and I want to be there for you....but the only way I can be is through this. I want to tell you all you need to know but I can't. Its something you got to figure out on your own...but just know.....when you meet him...and you feel crazy...that's normal...and when it hurts so bad that you want to die or kill him...that's how its supposed to feel....and when you lie for him and break the law and break your promises to everyone else in the world....don't feel too bad. Because I did all that for your Mom and she did all that for me.....and that's love, baby girl."

Melanie swiped away her tears.

Jason said "I hope you had a good birthday and that your mom isn't too pissed off about the motorcycle. If she somehow came up with a plan so that you didn't get it...don't blame her...she's just scared of losing you. You can buy a bike...if you want...when you're eighteen but just remember to always wear a helmet and don't take the curves too fast or go out in the rain...." after a very long pause "and remember....." Jason's voice broke "your Dad loves you."

The tape ended. Mel flipped off the TV, lifted her bedroom window, and climbed down the nearby tree. She could have went out the front door but that would mean going past her mom and her emotions were too raw to deal with anyone in that moment. Besides the tree had always been her way in and out of the house, and the way her friends came and went from her room.

With the key in her hand she walked over to the bike and started it up. It roared to life, even though it had been sitting for years. She wondered if it was safe to ride or needed a tune up and some work to get it going again. Ignoring her father's words about making sure she took a class and riding with her brothers for the first few months, Melanie climbed onto the bike. She had been on the back of motorcycles for years already. How hard could it be to drive one?

She didn't have her license yet but figured one quick spin around the block wouldn't get her in too much trouble.

Her mom came out onto the porch just as Melanie slid on the helmet. Carly called out "Don't even think about-"

Mel revved the engine and took off down the driveway, nearly wiping out when she turned onto the street. She smiled as her blonde hair whipped in the breeze behind her.

A block later she heard the police siren behind her. She hadn't made it far. But it had been one hell of a ride all the same.

THE END