The next morning is early and grey, imitating the storm and fog around her thoughts as she folds the few of her garments she'd actually had time to unpack back into the large trunk sitting at the foot of the bed. As she presses the soft dress inside, the tips of her nails knock into something hard that isn't a wall of the trunk. Sliding the clothes aside she, a glint of gold winks at her. The locket... she hadn't even remembered packing it. Melody lifted it into her hand gently, as if it were made of the thinnest glass and not a glittering gold, its chain spilled along her fingers like water. Sitting in her palm it called to her like the sun, a beacon to cling to. Closing her eyes, she slid it over her head without a second thought. Its weight hit her chest, just over her heart, and she wanted to cry at the safety it brought her. The promise that this wasn't the end of her story... she'd had a promise to keep to herself.

The floor boards behind her creaked silently but she did not turn, she knew it was him. She knew he would come. "The ship's ready." He said simply, a soft rustle told her he was probably leaning against the door frame. Something he did often, when he felt weighted- as if it were all so heavy he could barely hold himself up. "Mel?" She kept her eyes closed, focusing on the weight of the locket. So focused she didn't realize he'd stepped right behind her until his hands grazed the back of her neck. She jumped away, as if the touch had indeed burned her.

As he stared as her with his sad wide eyes, she realized she hadn't looked into them since he'd confessed to her the truth. The truth about the ring and the money and her mother... and Tess. "I was just... fixing your necklace. It was tangled over your hair." As he said it she dazedly lifted her hair from under the chain so that it lay against the nape of her neck. "I didn't mean-"

"I know."

The silence seemed to stretch for eons. She could hear the gentle clanging of a chain outside being swayed by the wind against soft wood. The bustling of B.E.N. and Sarah downstairs was faint, she hoped they hadn't gone through the trouble of cooking for her... It hit her suddenly, how was she going to face them? What would she even say? She couldn't imagine bringing Sarah into this mess, even if Jim was the one who'd done wrong- Melody could hardly expect the woman to side with her against her own son. "I'd like to leave as quietly as possible, Jim. I just don't know what I'd say to her. To either of them..."

"They'll understand." He says gently, his eyes drifting down to the locket around her neck. "It suits you, you know."

It would be so easy, to say thank you... To let him know she could forgive him. Somehow. Someday. That was how much she loved him. "Please let her know how grateful I was, for her hospitality. That I'm sorry to leave so abruptly." She trails off, turning back to tuck everything neatly into the trunk.

"She really liked you."

Melody reaches forward, pulling the lid closed with a quiet snap. "I liked her too... all of them." She can feel the sadness unsettling inside her again. And then as if he had read her mind, or had seen the fissures beginning to form along her skin, she found herself- without any warning at all- swept up into his arms. The worn cotton and thud thud-thud of his sad little heart beneath her cheek. Soap and old leather filling her nose as he held his lips to her crown and inhaled the scent of sun and salty sea in her jet black hair.

For the briefest moment she let herself crumble. Hands clutched in the folds of his jacket, half-moon impressions that would never fade. They had cut so deep. Do you love me? Do you love me? Do you love me? His heartbeat seemed to ask. In every mark she left on him, she seemed to write: of course, of course... of course. It wouldn't hurt so damn much if she hadn't... if she didn't still.

She tilts her face up reluctantly, tears tracking down her cheeks, and reaches up to pull his mouth to hers. He came to her hungrily, twisting into her touch like she could save him. Mouths sliding against each other urgently, a desperate attempt to engrave themselves on one another. He'll remember the love on her lips, not just the want or need... but the care.

She'll never forget the feel of him. The desire in the pit of her stomach at being so wanted. The safety of his embrace. The sturdiness he brought to the world. There was a freedom that seemed to follow him, like a wind at his back. Pushing him off cliffs like he could fly, and he could.

He broke away, his lips ghosting against her wet cheek. "You've got me you know? This doesn't mean anything... I'll always be here for you, Mel, if you ever need me-"

"I know." She whispered back, and after a long moment of just listening to the silence around them- Jim still embracing her tightly. "I have to go now, Jim."

He seemed to hold her tighter for a brief second before stepping back, arms falling back to his sides and pushing his hands into his pockets. "You go on ahead. I'll, uh, bring the last of your things down in a minute."

She nods wordlessly, grabbing a dark a heavy blue cloak from the bed to drape over her shoulders. Her shoes click quietly against the floorboards as she walks out the door. He listens to them fade down the hallway, waiting for the faint shudder of the door closing behind her downstairs. He wipes at his face almost belligerently, as if the walls were watching him. Judging his shortcomings and failures. He glanced out of her window, watching as she slipped onto the ship silently, cloak pulled over her head so that she was a simple silhouette against the early morning suns.

With a sigh he calls out to B.E.N. to help him lift the luggage outside.

She had planned to go straight down into the cabins, hide there for the remainder of the trip. However, as she attempted to rush down the stairs she nearly ran down Thomas in her haste. "Oh, I'm sorry." She muttered quietly.

"It's fine your Highness." He offered gently, and when she looked him in the eye she saw genuine worry there. She knew what she must look like, blotchy faced and red eyed. She hated how she looked crying, and perhaps it was because it happened so often. As if her tear ducts had a mind of her own and she'd always been at their mercy no matter how she mentally tried to stamp them down. "Is there anything I can do for you, My Lady?"

"No, thank you Thomas. I only ask that we depart as soon as possible."

"Yes, of course." His voice was almost painfully kind, it made her wonder if he'd known all along. And for some reason, though she had no proof as to whether it was true or false, a sudden resentment flared inside her. "It won't be much longer."

She nodded, focusing on her feet and saying gently, "I'll be in my cabin then." Before he could say anything she was gone, down the creaky steps, her cloak dragging behind her. Her feet carried her quickly and mindlessly to the room she hadn't expected to inhabit again so quickly. She pushed the door closed behind her, nails clattering against the metal panel from her shaky hands.

"I want to go home." Melody whispered petulantly against the cold door, leaning her hot forehead against it- in vain hope that it might soothe something inside her. A straw removed from the camel's back. As if going home would fix everything, perhaps even reset time so that none of it ever happened. Then, without any warning at all, she felt a sudden unsteadiness. Her heart stopped in her chest as she raced over to the tiny circular window over the bed, her eyes searched frantically along the dock as it grew quickly further away. There was nothing but dirt and an empty post, and the Benbow Inn, sitting gently on a cliff.

The ship rocked. The was a loud burst that seemed to filler her ears. And then there was nothing but stars, the Spaceport, the Inn, B.E.N. and Sarah and Jim... They were nothing but a dream. A dream she hadn't been ready to wake from. Her body gave out beneath her as she slumped down into the soft bed, sobs wracking her body as she tried to bury herself in it. She would cry for hours, until her heart and mind couldn't bear it anymore and she succumbed to the exhaustion in her. In sleep she could not feel or remember or mourn. In sleep she finally found a reprieve.