A/N: Hey, guys! *wave* So I promised some deleted scenes over on Cosmic Composite, and I think I promised someone over here that I would try to make the next one Melinda/Lenalee fluff. (Which, hey, I've been having less trouble with lately - I decided it was less pressing, since there's actually some in the main story now. *laugh*) But regardless, this is a collection of scenes I removed from the main story. Melinda never found out that Lenalee is a reincarnated exorcist, and there has been essentially no plot progression since she and Lenalee returned from vacation. Also, DS will henceforth stand for 'Deleted Scene' in the chapter titles.
Thank you to karina001, kickassdani, Yuki F. Karasu, RMXStudio, InsanityOwl, Resident of Wonderland, Shadow-X1999, Relena Duo, writer of worlds far away, RedHerring1412, and The Other Problem for reviewing!
Title: You Are My Universe
Author: liketolaugh
Rating: K+
Pairings: None
Genre: Family
Warnings: AU, !spoilers for Winter Soldier onward, spoilers for Agents of SHIELD!
Summary: Side story to Cosmic Composite, primarily family fluff oneshots and missing scenes.
Disclaimer: I only wish I owned D. Gray-man, and the Avengers are but a dream that is not my own.
Lenalee: 4 years old
Lenalee sat quietly to one side of the busy room, trying very hard to appear invisible.
Coulson was standing still, concentrating, and it was him who Lenalee watched most closely as people bustled around both of them. He was wearing a comm unit that connected directly to Melinda's, and Melinda was currently in the field.
"HYDRA's recent movements are concerning, but not urgent," Coulson coached Melinda, eyes intent on something Lenalee couldn't see. "Don't put yourself at risk for this intel."
Lenalee couldn't hear what Melinda said in reply, of course, but she could imagine. Whatever it was, it made Coulson smile, and Lenalee gave a small smile, too.
Recently, HYDRA had been quite active for an organization theoretically decimated. It had been an increasing concern for SHIELD, and they'd recently gotten a tip on a meeting place. (Lenalee chose not to wonder how they'd acquired this tip.)
Melinda was there now, investigating. And Lenalee was keeping track of her the best she could, because she was worried about her mother. To her relief, the adults in the room seemed to have indeed forgotten her presence, which was the general idea.
Lenalee waited and listened.
"Alright," Coulson said at last, after about half an hour. "Pull out, Melinda. We're sending a Quinjet for you." He paused, listening, and said, "We'll have to brace ourselves, but it doesn't seem urgent. Come back and we'll talk."
He redirected his attention to the room, and most of them stared expectantly back. Lenalee held her breath, eyes sparkling with delight. It sounded like it had gone well.
"Mack, you pilot, we're going to go get her. Skye-" He smiled a little. "Bring Lenalee, won't you?"
"Yay!" Lenalee rushed forward and grabbed Skye's hand, beaming up at her. Skye smiled reluctantly back, looking amused. "We're gonna see Mommy, right, Skye? Right?"
"That's right," Skye chuckled, reaching down to tickle Lenalee, making her shriek and squirm with laughter. "And she'll be happy to see you, too."
"Haha, s-stop, stop!" Lenalee squealed, batting uselessly at Skye's hand, and Skye grinned at her. "Sk-skye!"
Normally Coulson didn't deliberately bring Skye into contact with Melinda, understanding the difficulties involved, but Lenalee didn't like Mack and Coulson's attention was likely to be elsewhere, and Lenalee was too young to go unsupervised.
"Got it," Skye said to Coulson with a small, false smile, once she let Lenalee go. Coulson gave her a sympathetic nod and then turned away, already back to business.
"Let's go. May's waiting."
It took twenty minutes to get the Quinjet up and running, and in that time, Skye had gotten Lenalee, now four years old, into the jet and settled, wiggling impatiently.
"Mommy's okay, right?" she asked Skye, brown eyes round. Skye gave her a small smile, sympathetic and fond.
"Course she is, Lenalee. Your mom's the best."
Lenalee beamed with pride. "Of course she is! She's Mommy!"
A moment later, she reexamined that thought and paused, frowning. Wait, it didn't work that way. Lenalee knew it didn't work that way. Why…?
Luckily, Skye's attention had been redirected to Coulson and Mack, who were talking quietly at the front of the jet as it took off, hunched over and secretive, angled away from the other inhabitants.
"Sure there's nothing to be worried about?" Mack sounded dubious, though he didn't look back.
"Not… exactly," Coulson admitted reluctantly, mouth twisting slightly in a grimace. "But I think we have some time."
"…If you say so, sir." Just because he'd agreed to stay on didn't mean all was forgotten, and two years hadn't eased Mack's doubts. Lenalee sometimes wondered why he'd stayed on. She suspected guilt was at fault; Mack looked at Coulson's mechanical hand far more often than was strictly necessary.
It took half an hour to reach the pickup point, and Melinda was waiting just outside town, arms crossed and waiting. As soon as the door was open, Lenalee darted up to her and jumped, and Melinda caught her with practiced ease.
"Mommy!" Lenalee beamed, holding tight to Melinda, thrilled to see her. Melinda smiled at her, warm and amused.
"What are you doing here, baby girl? Shouldn't you be at the Helicarrier?" Though her tone didn't change, the pointedness of the comment wasn't lost on either Coulson or Lenalee.
"I wanted to see you!" Lenalee pouted, and Melinda chuckled.
"I wasn't gone two hours, Lenalee. You would've been fine."
Lenalee knew that, but she couldn't bring herself to care. To her, it may as well have been an eternity. Certainly it was far too long.
She huffed, letting herself act as childish as she felt. "But!" She buried her face in Melinda's side, relishing in the familiar warmth. "Wanted to!"
Melinda chuckled again and pried Lenalee off her so they could enter the jet, holding her hand without thinking. Her eyes alighted upon Skye and cooled slightly, but lightened again at Coulson and Mack.
"You have about as much reason to be here as Lenalee, Coulson," she pointed out, but it wasn't as stern as she'd intended, and Coulson smiled.
"I thought you'd want to talk business as soon as possible," he explained easily. Melinda's smile vanished into a serious look and she nodded, sitting down across from Coulson, Lenalee curled up beside her, quiet and content, and they took off again.
A look from Melinda, and Skye came over to engage Lenalee in conversation, enticing her to chatter about a new coloring book she'd been wanting, a fantasy one with goblins and dragons, head still leaning against Melinda's arm.
Now, while that would work with a real four-year-old, Lenalee herself was still listening, just like she knew Skye was.
"They're planning an attack on SHIELD, probably within the next month," Melinda explained, fingers carding through Lenalee's hair but attention on Coulson. Lenalee didn't react, describing to Skye the pretty dragon she'd seen on the cover. Not that Skye was really listening.
"What kind?" Coulson returned, brow furrowed, clearly already thinking quickly.
"Probably aerial – we'll have to be careful, watch the skies." Lenalee wished she could help. Aerial was her specialty.
"Got it. We have some air-to-air weapons left, we'll get those ready." Coulson was contemplative, going over his options, and Melinda snorted.
"That's the least we should do."
The plane shuddered. All talking stopped.
"Mack?" Coulson called after a few moments, concerned.
"Wasn't me," Mack said, suddenly tense. "What the hell…?"
"Hey, SHIELD agents."
Everyone in the jet stiffened; they recognized that voice. Lenalee looked up, eyes wide.
"Looks like you have some pretty important people on that jet."
Another jet appeared abruptly, very, very close. It must have been cloaked, and Mack, distracted by the conversation behind him, hadn't noticed.
"Now, normally I'd offer a chance for you to get away and get the message out. Unfortunately, I'm HYDRA now, and that's not how HYDRA works."
The jet visibly armed itself. Mack cursed, but it was too close to get away effectively – all he could do was minimize the damage, and the maneuvers that would take weren't easy. The plane banked hard, and Lenalee squeaked softly and held on to Melinda, cheek pressed into the woman's arm, frightened.
"And when I say I'm HYDRA? I mean I am HYDRA – within a year I'll be the head that grew after the last one was cut. Your fault, by the way, thanks. Thanks for Kara."
The transmission cut, and Melinda cursed quietly, while Skye stared with wide, startled eyes at the speaker. For a few more moments, there was tense quiet.
The enemy jet fired, and Mack yelled. A moment later, a hole was blown in the side of the Quinjet. Suddenly there was a lot more cursing, and no time to worry about what Ward had said as falling to Earth became an immediate, dire concern.
"Mack!" Coulson called, and Mack damn near snarled at him, not looking back. "There's a bare cliff to our eight!"
"Got it!" Mack answered through gritted teeth, and he made a sharp turn, banking hard. Nothing vital had been hit, but there was still a gaping hole in the side of their plane, and the pressure was immense, pulling and tugging and hungry.
Skye had one hand on Lenalee and the other to something solid, teeth gritted and eyes squinting. Lenalee held onto both Skye and Melinda, eyes tightly shut, more frightened of the ground than she had been in years.
Then Melinda, far too close to the hole, started to slip.
"May!" Coulson called, making half a move to rise, but of course that was pointless. All that happened was that he met Melinda's wide eyes as she slipped out and was shot into the open air.
Lenalee's eyes shot open and she looked down, and a cry ripped from her throat. Without a second thought, she let go, shoved Skye's hand off of her, and followed Melinda out the hole, wind rushing around her.
There was no fear in Lenalee. No panic. Just the calm focus she remembered from when she'd done… so many things. She had two objectives.
Get to Melinda May before she hit the ground. And activate her dormant Innocence.
"No!"
The cry was an echo, Skye and Coulson and Mack, but Lenalee wasn't paying attention, squinting brown eyes focused only on the falling stick figure of Melinda, tumbling through the air to the trees far, far below.
Please.
She knew how to do this, how to fall fast, and she angled herself just right. She had to catch up, she had to catch her mother, please. Her shoes, loose flats, tumbled off her feet and spiraled away, leaving tiny bare toes and harsh stigmata exposed to the air.
Please, Innocence. I know you're there. I know you can hear me.
She was catching up, but it was slow. The wind whipped her hair around, slapping her face, cold and harsh and biting, nipping at her bare toes. The ground was far below, but it was approaching fast. She gritted her teeth and focused, defying God to deny her this.
I know you don't need me anymore. But I need you.
There were a few stray clouds, wet and freezing cold, and she shot through, needing to keep Melinda in sight, needing to catch her. She was almost there.
Please, Innocence, I need to save her. I need to save Mom. I can't let her die. Not like…
There she was! Lenalee reached out to Melinda's wide eyes, shocked, and Melinda said something that was snatched away by the wind. Lenalee didn't hear, and she wrapped her arms around her mother the best she could, burying her face in her back, shaking slightly with cold and shock and pain.
Not like I let my brother. My friends. Not like I let myself die.
I won't let them die. Not this time. Never again.
She'd caught Melinda, now she just needed to break their fall. She slid up to hook her arms underneath Melinda's, and Melinda's hand wrapped around hers, craning her neck to look at her with pain and regret and fear.
I don't care if it costs me my legs, my arms, my childhood, my life. Just let me save them.
A green glow erupted behind Lenalee's eyes, and strength surged through her arms. She flinched, face scrunching up, as she felt her stigmata burst, blood pouring out and surrounding her bare feet, hot and wet. Instantly, she felt lightheaded, both from relief and from blood loss, but her deadly focus didn't fade. She'd operated under far worse conditions, and while her body was vulnerable, her mind was still strong.
She could feel the exact moment when it finished, when her Dark Boots formed completely, hardening into place, and she smiled into Melinda's hair, tears glittering, unseen.
Thank you.
She spun and pulled up, and cried out in pain as she felt her muscles wrench with Melinda's weight – Innocence or not, she was still only four years old, with tiny, skinny arms not yet ready for work. But she wasn't letting go. Not for anything.
She looked up, searching out the Quinjet. She found it still veering unsteadily, but it had almost landed on the cliff Coulson had indicated, and she directed herself there, feeling the pressure of Melinda's arms on hers, heavy and bruising.
It was a miracle that she reached it, unsteady and taxed as she was. They were barely over the solid rock before she let Melinda down, the woman's feet hitting the ground, and slipped down after, leaning heavily against her mother, panting softly with exertion and relief, eyes fluttering shut and cheek on her hip, hands fisted lightly in her clothes.
She'd saved her. Melinda was okay. Melinda was okay.
Lenalee tilted her head up to look at Melinda, smiling, and then faltered in confusion.
Melinda was staring at her, wide-eyed. Lenalee looked past her. Skye was staring. Coulson was staring. Mack was staring.
Staring at her. Shocked. Slowly, very slowly, Lenalee looked down, to the green glow rolling off her boots, her feet, to the butterflies fluttering proudly at their backs.
Oh. Oh.
Fear flooded into her system where it had been absent before, nearing panic, and she released Melinda and stepped back, staring up at her in barely-restrained terror.
"Lenalee," Melinda breathed, and she reached for her daughter, faltering only slightly.
Lenalee didn't think, she just reacted. Her body moved without her permission, stepping back off the cliff, and she gasped out, "Sonic Wind!"
Ow.
Lenalee whimpered softly as she was jerked back, far harder than her fragile body could handle, and she could feel her insides being jolted around, sore and sickening. Her head hurt now, too, and she felt dizzy, her vision suddenly blurry as she turned end-over-end and ended up barely upright again, staring at the people she'd just fled.
Mom hates people with powers. Oh, no, what have I done? She's going to be so mad, she's so mad, she's mad at me, I'm sorry!
"Lenalee!" Melinda called, stepping out as far as she dared, eyes wide and more alarmed than Lenalee had ever seen them, hand outstretched like she thought she could reach Lenalee past the distance. Her voice came out shaken and frantic. "Lenalee, come down from there!"
Lenalee whimpered, arms wrapped around herself, legs steady beneath her despite her dizziness. She shook her head tearfully.
The others had hurried forward as soon as Lenalee had shot back, and now stood just back from Melinda, staring at her again with any number of different expressions, different reactions.
Coulson, for his part… Well, suddenly he understood a lot more about Lenalee's recent questions. If she'd known this would happen…
Melinda was thoroughly rattled, hand frozen in front of her, eyes focused on her daughter, crying and too far to reach, suspended in midair by… Something she'd produced herself. By a power.
Lenalee was…
And then she caught the strained expression on Lenalee's face, the telltale signals of pain and fear, and the thought was shoved aside for later.
She took a deep breath and forced her voice to come out steady and reassuring. She had to remember her priorities, and the first priority was getting Lenalee to come down safe.
"Come down," she repeated, loud enough to carry but not a shout. Her voice cracked in her panic. "Baby girl, come down from there, listen to me. You're hurt."
Lenalee shook her head, tears streaming down her face. "No!" she cried back, a note of hysteria tinging her already high voice. "I don't want to! I don't want to go in quarantine! I won't let you trap me!"
Melinda's heart just about stopped in her chest – of course – but she kept her voice forcefully steady, not dropping her hand. "I won't let that happen."
"You hate powered people!" Lenalee screamed. There was definitely hysteria in her voice now, and Melinda couldn't see her eyes; she'd ducked her head, but she was shaking, violent and unsteady, panting painfully.
"What if I had powers, Mommy?"
Well, this was what Melinda got for cutting corners with her daughter, and resolutely, she promised herself never to do it again. But first she had to fix her mistake. She had to get Lenalee back safe.
But Skye stepped forward first. She didn't reach out – there were a lot of people who flinched when she did that now, and she'd stopped altogether – but her gaze was intent and plaintive.
"I got out fine, Lenalee," she persuaded. "You will, too." She smiled a little, trying to be reassuring. "Don't worry, they love you at SHIELD."
"They put you in quarantine!" Lenalee tried to scream, but it was more of a cry, wet and distressed.
Lenalee was crying. At this distance, it was a little hard to tell, but she was. She couldn't see straight, her vision swimming, and her head hurt, it was hard to think. She could feel the toll her Innocence was taking on her body, making her feverish and sore and exhausted. She should deactivate. She should have deactivated as soon as she'd landed.
But she was scared.
"Skye's powerful," Mack said, trying to reason with her, worry clear in his eyes, though Lenalee was too far to make it out. "She needs to be watched, we're just being careful. But you-"
Lenalee didn't want to hear it, and she cut him off.
"You're wrong!" Her voice was hoarse and harsh and it broke somewhere in the middle, scraping her throat bloody. "You're wrong! Skye- Skye's strong, but…" She coughed. "You have SHIELD on your side." Was the blur in her vision from dizziness or tears? "And… and in a fight between an organization and a superhuman… The organization always wins!"
That drew more stares, because that wasn't a four-year-old speaking, not a chance in hell. Then they were distracted again as Lenalee started coughing and couldn't quite stop, harsh and painful and weakening fast.
Melinda took a deep breath. She could do this. She could do this.
"You are my daughter, Lenalee," she reminded the little girl, who was staring at her through half-lidded eyes, hugging herself and listing in midair, butterflies fluttering at her feet, still coughing weakly. "And nothing is going to change that. I'll protect you, and I'll do whatever it takes." Her eyes were serious and sincere. "I swear it."
Lenalee panted and stared at her, and for a few long moments, Melinda wasn't even sure the little girl had heard her, she looked so out of it. But then Lenalee exhaled sharply, and she started to wobble down unsteadily. Melinda held her other hand out, praying internally that Lenalee would reach her before she fell.
She did, but just barely. As soon as she was within Melinda's reach, the green light flashed again, and she dropped down, light as a feather, into Melinda's hands. Melinda drew her back instantly, close against her chest.
Lenalee's breathing was heavy and labored, a slight wheeze just audible to Melinda's ears. Her boots dissolved and wrapped themselves into two neat red rings, which dangled around her ankles, leaving her feet bare, and Melinda could see that same red color coating Lenalee's lips, trickling from the corner of her mouth.
"Lenalee," Melinda said sharply, and Lenalee reluctantly looked up at her, eyes glazed. "Don't go to sleep."
Behind her, she could hear Coulson calling for pickup and a medical team, but her attention was on Lenalee, who was staring at her blankly.
"Lenalee, look at me," she commanded, shifting slightly to hold the little girl's head up, eyes fixed on hers. "Focus."
Lenalee blinked once, and then she sighed softly, and her eyes slipped shut as she relaxed suddenly. Melinda's widened slightly, and her mouth tightened.
"Lenalee! Don't go to sleep! Wake up!"
Lenalee was alone in the quarantine room. Now, without the disturbed thought process and the panic from before, it wasn't quite as distressing, but she was still laying very still, staring blankly at the ceiling while her shoulders ached fiercely, feeling miserable. One wrist was bound to her bed, though she never attempted to break the bond.
She wasn't that little girl anymore.
"So, what is it? Memory transfer? Superhuman intelligence? Reincarnation? Possession?"
She didn't look over, but she recognized Coulson's voice, loud and clear and dangerously placid. She couldn't summon the will to care anymore about keeping her secret, though.
"Reincarnation," she said softly, brown eyes still on the ceiling, short brown hair splayed across the pillow. Eerily familiar. "When I died, it was January of 1875. And before you ask, I don't know how it happened. I just woke up, right after I was born." She glanced at him now, eyes dim, and Coulson visibly winced at her expression, concern overtaking everything else for a brief moment. "You came in a few minutes later."
Coulson looked surprised that she remembered, and for a few long moments, he was thinking, mulling that over. Adapting, Lenalee supposed. Her gaze slid back to the ceiling.
"What were you planning to do?" he asked finally. Looking after SHIELD's best interests, of course.
"I wanted to make you less afraid of people with powers," she replied, misery tightening her voice out of its tonelessness. "And… eventually, I was going to join SHIELD. If I thought it'd turn out alright."
He studied her for a few more painful moments, thoughtful, and then asked, "How old were you? When you died?"
Lenalee finally reacted, head turning to look at him, faintly confused. She winced at the slight pull of her shoulder, and wondered why he cared.
"I would have turned twenty in four more months," she said at last, not breaking his gaze, a small, puzzled frown on her face. Why does it matter?
"Pretty young," Coulson said cautiously, examining her face for warning signs, but he found only confusion. "How did it happen?"
Her face tightened again, dismay and pain and a little bit of anger dancing across it. It didn't suit her little face. Coulson looked like he was about to take it back, but no, Lenalee wanted him to hear this.
"The people I worked for," she said, with a careful pace and measured words and a tone that was too mature and too bitter, "had me killed. Me, and… probably all of my friends. Because they were afraid of our powers." Resentment coated the words like sticky sap. "I could barely walk by myself, and they still sent three people to slit my throat." The pain and the dismay and the anger dropped away, and worry clouded her eyes. She bit her lip and looked away. "I don't… I don't want SHIELD to do that. I don't want you to be that person, Uncle Phil. I don't want Mom to be that hateful face." Her voice dropped to a whisper. "And… I don't want Skye to be that girl in the snow, drowning in blood because she's 'too dangerous to have around normal humans'." Tied up and on her knees, trying to get up because she had to save her friends, she had to save her brother… Her eyes stung. She didn't want to remember this. She didn't want to remember this anymore.
"You're scared," Coulson said quietly, gaze unwavering, but definitely concerned as he looked at the little girl he thought of as a niece, trying not to wince at the graphic description of her own death, which brought back too-vivid memories of his own.
"Yeah," Lenalee confirmed, voice cracking, tears starting to glimmer in her eyes. "I'm scared. I don't… I don't want Mom to hate me." She looked over at Coulson, eyes wide and frightened. "Uncle Phil… how mad is she? Really?"
"She's not mad," Coulson said instantly, and he saw the doubt crease Lenalee's face. "I promise. She's upset that you never told her, and she's scared that she doesn't really know you, but she's not mad." He watched Lenalee bite her lip and look away, and added, "She was watching this over video, and as soon as I leave, she's going to come in. Do you want to see her now?"
Lenalee's eyes jerked to his, but after a moment her face crumpled again and she nodded hesitantly. "Yes," she whispered.
Coulson nodded and wished he could reassure her better, but instead he stood up and left.
Sure enough, within a minute, Melinda had entered the room, eyes on Lenalee, who was sitting up now, still-bare feet dangling off the side of the bed, giving her an anxious look and rubbing her shoulder gingerly. Melinda sat in the chair Coulson had just vacated, placing a small bag under it, and for a few moments, there was silence.
Finally, Lenalee broke it. "How long will I be in here?" she asked without looking up, voice as quiet as if she were afraid it would break the glass and cause it to scatter around them.
"Simmons is doing your bloodwork," Melinda replied, watching Lenalee where Lenalee wasn't looking at her. "As soon as we're sure there's nothing dangerous to anyone else, or anything infectious, you can come out."
"There's nothing infectious or dangerous to you," Lenalee told her, brown eyes on her ankles, where the red rings still dangled – there didn't seem to be a way to get them off without breaking her ankle. "There's Innocence in my blood now." She glanced up suddenly, tentative in a way that made Melinda's mouth tighten with regret. "Um… this, it's, um. It's Innocence." She gestured to the anklets. "And my red blood cell count is, um, higher."
Melinda's face softened slightly at Lenalee's nervousness, but she kept her resolution and said, "We'll wait for confirmation on that." A moment of hesitation, barely noticeable, but still enough to make Lenalee tilt her head up in concern and curiosity. "What was your old family like?"
Lenalee's face melted into something pensive. "I don't remember my parents," Lenalee said, after a long moment, crossing her legs at the ankle and gaze drifting to somewhere over Melinda's shoulder. "But my brother… his name was Komui, and… he loved me enough to follow me halfway across the world. I knew he'd do anything for me, and he made good on that promise, so many times." And I couldn't save him.
Lenalee didn't look four years old. She was too sad, too pensive, too regretful for it, and for a moment, Melinda wondered how she'd never noticed.
Melinda took a deep breath and a moment to mull that over, and then asked, a little more stiff as her mind roiled and tossed and turned, "So what are those? What can you do with them? You called them Innocence." She nodded at Lenalee's feet.
Lenalee started, and a very small, shy smile broke across her face, eyes returning to Melinda's. "They're my Innocence," she explained, uncrossing her legs and letting them dangle again. "Their name is Dark Boots, and I can fly with them." She giggled, the sound light and childish. "I'm sure you noticed that."
Melinda shared a reluctant smile with her, and then Lenalee continued.
"I can fly at the speed of sound if I want – that was Sonic Wind." She smiled ruefully. "I shouldn't have done that – it wasn't necessary and I wasn't ready." She shook her head at herself, and then went on, "And I can walk on liquid like it was land – that's called Water Shackles. And the last one is Iron Shackles." She shrugged. "Those basically make me fall really hard and fast."
Melinda mulled that over for a few more long moments, and Lenalee could see her making the effort, not reacting with any sort of fear or apprehension that Lenalee could see, and she smiled softly.
"What do you see me as?" Melinda asked at last, without breaking her position as she continued absorbing what Lenalee had told her.
The question alone made Lenalee tear up again. "You've always been my mother," she said, a hint of a plea to her voice, and Melinda looked over to her and smiled slightly, making Lenalee relax, tears still threatening to spill, breath hitching and uneven.
Then Melinda leaned over and reached for the bag she'd tucked under her chair, and she held up a coloring book. "Unless you were only pretending to like these?" she prompted, with a slight smile and a raised eyebrow.
It had a pretty, colorful dragon on the front, and a number of little angry goblins all around it.
Lenalee's eyes widened slightly, hope and delight leaking into her eyes, and she nodded quickly. Melinda smiled and placed it into the drawer, along with a box of crayons and Lenalee's little stuffed rabbit.
Lenalee beamed at her, and Melinda smiled back, looking on as Lenalee hurried to the little compartment and pulled the little things out.
Lenalee chose the rabbit first and hugged it to herself, a smile peeking out at Melinda from behind the rabbit's ears.
"Thank you," she whispered gratefully, and it wasn't just for the rabbit and the book.
I actually wrote this a really long time ago, but I'm pretty pleased with it nonetheless. (I was very sad when I had to take it out.) As promised: This scene was deleted because it no longer worked. It made far more sense for Lenalee to tell Melinda when she did, and the plot, everything, was moving to slowly because apparently I forgot that plot progression and character development were things? Whatever, I don't know. Anyway, this was the original scene for both the way Lenalee's secret was revealed, and her Innocence activated. Obviously, neither of these apply now. (Even the reunion will happen sooner than originally planned - I think I originally had it scheduled two years after this occurred.) Anyway, someone else has requested Lenalee and Coulson, and I'll try to do that next. Thanks for reading, and please review!
