Disclaimer: I do not own any of the music, products or movies mentioned in this fic and as much as I wish I did.........I don't own GhostWhisperer or any of it's characters, I do however, own those characters and storylines which appear in this fanfic, but not in the show. No copyright infringement intended!
Thank you……………………….Enjoy x x Lolly x x
They walked up to the house together and were greeted by a worried looking Olivia "are you okay?" she asked timidly, Melinda nodded "I'm sorry Olivia, I was rude before and I shouldn't have walked out" Melinda said with tears running down her cheeks, Olivia shook her head "no sweetheart, it was my fault, I should have just listened to you…I'm sorry I really am…I shouldn't have assumed-" she trailed off guiltily. Melinda pulled Olivia into a tight embrace, "please don't feel bad, I don't want you to be upset" Melinda said "oh sweetheart, just tell me you're okay" she said in an almost desperate tone, Melinda pulled away and rested her hands on Olivia's shoulders "I'm fine" she lied, she was actually feeling rather conflicted and was constantly aware of the dark cloud of depression which was ever-present. "Are you going to head to bed now?" Olivia asked, Melinda nodded "yeah I'm really tired, I'm sure I'll be asleep as soon as I hit the sheets" she said with false light-heartedness. They hugged goodnight again and Melinda and Jim headed up the stairs, when they reached they reached their hallway Jim turned to Melinda "I'm gonna hit the shower, do want me to sit with you for a while?" he asked kindly. Melinda gave him a half-hearted smile and shook her head "I'll be fine, you wanna grab your bags?" she asked opening the door for him, Jim gathered all of his stuff and rested it on the floor of his bedroom.
"Thanks for everything today Jim, I honestly don't know what I would have done without you" she said sincerely, "thank you for letting me be there for you, you gave me more than you know" Jim said, he pulled Melinda towards him, wrapped his arms tightly around her tiny waist and planted a soft kiss on her forehead, Melinda leaned into his chest and smiled "goodnight" she said with tears in her eyes, Jim pulled back and held her my the shoulders at arm's length "are you sure you're okay?" he asked worriedly, Melinda nodded "don't worry about me Jim, I'm fine" she lied. Jim gave her a disbelieving look but went into his room nonetheless leaving Melinda alone with her misery, she shut her door behind her and rooted around in her shopping bags until she found the gift she had bought for Jim, staring at it she felt her eyes begin to fill again-okay so I've managed to freak out in front of everyone when I met Christopher, have a flashback and run off into the forest, make Jim sit with me until I fell asleep, spend an entire day with Jim-including lunch, eat dinner, throw all that back up again, be accused of being bulimic, jump out of my window and drive off into the city and keep Olivia, Christopher and Jim awake until 1:00am…not to mention that I've had a nightmare every night since I've been here- she thought dejectedly.
"You are never going to be normal" Melinda told her reflection in the mirror coldly, she undressed and went through her shopping, she neatly folded all of her pyjamas, hung up the clothes and found places for everything else leaving her room clear of all bags. Once she was done she found a T-shirt which reached just above the middle of her thighs and pulled it on, feeling too wired to sleep Melinda went out onto the balcony. As soon as she stepped out into the rain she felt herself relax, she had always loved it, when she was little her dad would wrap her up warm and take her out to the park where they would splash around in muddy puddles and spin around in circles in the rain until they were dizzy then he would take her home, change her clothes, wrap her in a blanket on the sofa and hold her while they watched movies together until their mom came to snuggle with them. Melinda wished that there was somebody to wrap her up at that very moment, somebody to hold her…she sat down and curled up in the rain and cried, because no matter how close she came she just couldn't seem to get back on her feet, not long later she fell asleep curled up on her side with her body barely covered by her now see-through t-shirt, she was freezing cold and soaking wet.
Jim climbed out of the shower and frowned to himself, although Melinda had said that she was okay he felt as though she was just running around to hold all of the pieces and at any minute she would tire and fall apart, he glanced at the clock on the bathroom wall, it was quarter past one. With a sinking feeling in his stomach he made his way to his room and pulled some boxer shorts on, hearing the beating rain he went to check that there was no patio furniture left outside, he gasped when he caught sight of Melinda, her tiny form was crumpled on the floor and it looked as though she had just given up caring about the cold and the rain.
Jim punched in his code and ran outside "Melinda, baby what are you doing?" he asked worriedly, Melinda jumped and stood up quickly looking around with wide fearful eyes "it's okay sweetheart, I need to get you inside okay?" Jim held his arms out to Melinda but she just stared at them, looking as though she feared the end of the world was about to come "I won't hurt you" he said gently as he approached her, "let me hold you Melinda, please" Jim whispered in her ear, she gave a slight nod and Jim wrapped his arms around her. After a minute he place one arm behind her legs and the other behind her back and picked her up in a fireman's hold, she rested her head against his chest and whispered "I just fell asleep…I can walk" Jim smiled down at her and whispered back "I know, but you don't have to" before placing a very light kiss on her head and carrying her into his bedroom to set her down. He ran across to Melinda's room and grabbed a large bath towel from her linens pile then returned to where Melinda was waiting.
"Lift your arms up" he said softly, Melinda did as she was told not noticing when Jim held back a gasp as he saw the way her ribs pushed against her soft skin, he had never before noticed how fragile she looked, she was a foot shorter than him at a tiny 5ft2ins, very slim and had a wide-eyed fearful expression on her face. Melinda shivered as her wet t-shirt was slipped over her head, Jim balled it up and put it on his desk, he gave her a questioning glance in the direction of her bra and she gave a small nod in return. She pulled her hair over one shoulder and turned her back to Jim, he undid the clasp on her bra and waited for her to turn back around before pushing the straps off her shoulders gently, she gasped as the thin fabric fell away from her body and into Jim's hands, he placed her pink lacy bra on top of her t-shirt on his desk and turned back to Melinda. Without looking at her body he picked up the large bath sheet and wrapped it around her before pulling her into a hug "you're gonna be okay Melinda, I promise" he said determinedly.
"Go have a hot shower to warm yourself up, get changed, and then come back here okay" Jim said, Melinda nodded and did as she was told, she showered quickly before drying off and picking out some pyjamas. She put on a black cami and shorts set that she had bought on their shopping trip then fixed her hair and by 1:40am she was knocking on Jim's door holding the gift set that she had bought for him. Jim opened his door quietly and smiled when he saw what she was holding, "great minds think alike I guess" he said before producing the gift he got for Melinda from behind his back, they laughed at each other and both said thank you. Melinda gave Jim a sweet kiss and said goodnight, "no, Melinda stay with me…I want you to stay in here, I don't like the fact that you wake up from nightmares every night alone in a relatively new place…stay with me" he said sweetly.
"Thank you" she said shyly, Jim pulled back the covers from the bed and signalled for Melinda to get in "can we talk first?" she asked nervously, Jim nodded. Melinda sighed "like I said before Jim, everyone who knows what happened after my parents were killed… looks at me differently. I don't know why but I don't want you to be the same, I feel like yours is pretty much the only opinion that I care about right now" she looked down and let the tears roll down her cheeks and land on her chest. Jim smiled shyly at her and moved so close that she could feel his fresh cool breath wash over her face, he traced the back of his hand along her collar bone wiping away the fallen tears then he slowly brought both hands up to cup her cheeks and used his thumbs to tenderly wipe the fresh tears which were threatening to spill over.
Melinda's nervous breaths were shallow, she leaned into his gentle touch and leaned forward to close the small distance between them, as soon as Melinda's lips touched his Jims he placed on hand softly in the curve of her neck and the other on the small of her back, the slow and gentle kiss lasted for quite a while before the need to breath broke them apart, Jim smiled when he saw the happily dazed expression on Melinda's face, "right now Melinda, I don't think there's anything in this world that could change the way I look at you" he said breathily, Melinda smiled and nodded. She slowly but surely ploughed her way through the hardest parts of her past, stopping to gage Jim's reaction every now and then before continuing. "How did you survive all of that Melinda? How did you get away from them?" Jim asked while rubbing her back soothingly, Melinda looked into his eyes as she spoke "a week after I was taken, the nicest guy Max, who had been trying to take care of me as best he could, came into the motel room and told me we were leaving, I had broken ribs, a concussion and a body covered in bruises, I had barely eaten anything and I was weak…I couldn't get up so he carried me to the van. The biggest one David got pissed because Max kept asking if I was okay along the journey and giving me water and stuff so he made James hold him back while one guy opened the back doors of the van and the last one threw me out of the back. They were driving at 70mph and I was already so badly hurt…" Melinda continued to talk as she remembered exactly what happened that night.
-Melinda was crumpled in the corner of the motel room when the door burst out "We're leaving kid, you're going to be okay I swear…I'll find a way to get you out of here come on…I'll carry you, is that okay?" Max asked, Melinda gave him a weak half-smile and he scooped her up into his arms, she was only wearing a pair of underwear and shivered as the air rushed against her skin, Max frowned "you're cold" he said worriedly, he set her down on the bed, pulled his sweater off and put it on Melinda, she was so much smaller than him that it served as more of a dress than a top. He picked her back up and carried her to the van in the pitch black parking lot, he gently set her down in the van before climbing in and pulling her into his lap "you'll be okay kiddo" he whispered as the other four climbed in. David looked back from the driver's seat and frowned "what the hell are you doin' man? She can sit down by herself", Max glanced at Melinda and shook his head "no she can't asshole, she can't even speak anymore, she's all like…broken man, you beat her up real bad" he said angrily "fine, hold onto your little girlfriend then moron" David spat before pulling out onto the road. They raced along for about an hour before David looked in the rear-view mirror and noticed Max giving Melinda a drink of water "I've had enough! We're getting rid of that little bitch right now! James do what you have to do… Joe, T.D, I don't wanna see that kid again." He said coldly. James held a flailing Max back while Joe opened the door, T.D picked Melinda up and tried to maintain his balance as he made his way to the edge of the truck, he pulled Max's sweater over Melinda's head and threw it at him before dropping Melinda out of the back of the van with a laugh. –
"I will never forget that laugh" Melinda said through gritted teeth "I hit the ground and rolled over and over until I was at the side of the road, I threw my hands out to try and break my fall but I ended up breaking both of my wrists, I landed on my back on a piece of glass but I was too weak to move, so I just lay there while it cut deeper and deeper and-" Melinda's voice was hysterical by now and Jim pulled her into a tight hug "sssssh, Melinda you don't have to do this" he said worriedly, Melinda clung onto him for dear life and continued in her small tear-filled voice "I screamed out for help for as long as I could but I was so tired…I don't know how long I was there but a car pulled up and a man ran over to me…I couldn't hear what he was saying, it was like he was really far away, he covered me with his jacket and held me until the ambulance came. I woke up two weeks later in hospital but I kept slipping in and out of consciousness and I kept on crashing because my heart was so weak. I was in intensive care for a month and recovery for three weeks. I had to go through painful physiotherapy everyday to regain the use of my legs, I had been still for so long I couldn't walk properly and I had been starved so bad that my muscles started weakening, I had to learn to write properly again because my wrist was so messed up and I wouldn't speak to anyone because I was so scared that it would all happen again. I was sent to a children's home and got pretty close to my social worker, Lisa, she's the one who brought me here…and then I met you…and now I have hope…that maybe one day someone could love me and want me and care for me the way it's supposed to be…that maybe one day I can just be normal, just be…me" she said quietly.
She pulled her vest off over her head and turned her back to Jim "look" she whispered, there was a thin and neat pearl white scar that went from her right shoulder blade down to the middle of her back. "Is this from the glass?" Jim asked, Melinda nodded and shivered when Jim ran his fingertips along the line, he slowly leaned forward and pressed gentle kisses down it softly before pulling Melinda back so that she was leaning back on his chest and his head was resting on her shoulder. "It's like a permanent reminder of what happened…no matter how far or fast I run it will always be with me, every time I look at it I hear that laugh" she said sadly, "no, Melinda you can't think of it that way…it's a permanent reminder of how strong you are…you're still alive" he said sincerely. Melinda sighed "your girlfriend's a freak" she whispered, "my girlfriend's a survivor" Jim replied which made Melinda smile.
"Melinda, I hate that those things happened to you, and I wish that there was something that I could do to take that pain away, but I'm glad you told me because I feel like I know you better now, I'm happy that you trust me" Jim said, Melinda smiled shyly and gently pulled on Jim's t-shirt pulling him closer and kissing him a lot more passionately than before, she tangled her fingers in his messy hair and smiled against his lips when his arms pressed her closer to his body, after a while Melinda pulled away and Jim thought that she was going to asked him to stop, she bit her lip which, although not her intention, Jim found very seductive. Melinda pushed his chest so that he fell back on his bed then reached over and switched the light off, she hovered above him using her elbows to support her weight. Melinda lowered her face to his and kissed him passionately smiling when she felt his arms wind tightly around her waist "you , are amazing" she said before kissing him again, they continued for a while and eventually settled into a sweet embrace- Melinda was laying on top of Jim with her head resting on his chest and Jim had his arms wrapped around her with the covers pulled up to Melinda's chin.
………..Y'ALL KNOW THE DRILL, RIGHT?..................REVIEEEEEEEEEEEW XX LOLLY XX