29

Reunited: Day Fourteen

Joan and Jackie, Brian's mom, entered the penthouse suite and looked around at the numerous occupants already inside. Victoria, Geri, and Mel were sitting in the den looking through stacks of photos that need to be approved for use in People Magazine. Brian and Kevin were sitting at the kitchen table having a snack and conversing with Emma and Pauline, who were attempting to make cookies from scratch. Neither of them were very competent when it came to preparing food, but Emma had insisted they learn while they had the time.

Joan went through a moment of panic, not seeing Melanie in the room with the group. Before she could ask, Pauline smiled up at her and nodded toward the patio door.

"She's sitting outside," Pauline explained. "I think she likes being away from everyone, but still being able to keep an eye on us."

"It might feel good not being trapped inside as well," Brian added.

"She's just sitting out there?" Joan asked, joining the group at the table and looking out the patio window to see Melanie, who was curled up in a corner with her arms wrapped around her legs and her head resting on her knees.

"She fell asleep a little while ago," Emma explained. "We've been keeping an eye on her."

"Thank you," said Joan, appreciatively.

"She just breaks your heart, doesn't she?" Jackie sighed as she sat next to Brian and looked out at Melanie.

"This never should have happened," Brian lamented. "If I'd stayed with her or brought her with me. I could have carried her."

"You have to stop blaming yourself, Brian," said Joan. She placed her hand on Brian's arm and smiled sadly. "None of us blame you. What happened to Melanie wasn't anyone's fault except the five men in custody."

They were interrupted by a tapping on the door and Camilla, the girls' personal assistant, let herself in and smiled at the occupants within the room. "The car is here," she announced. "Are you ready to go?"

"No," Joan breathed. "but I suppose dragging this out won't make it any easier, will it?"

"How do you think she's going to do today?" Brian asked as he looked out at Melanie.

Joan sighed and shook her head. "I've been trying to prepare her all week," she explained. "I keep telling her what Sandra will be doing, just to mentally prepare her to have the stitches removed, but it's so hard to know what she's thinking. She's just so hard to read."

"Would it help if she watched them do mine first?" Brian asked. "Then she'd have a better idea of what to expect."

"That's a great idea," said Emma as she sampled a piece of cookie dough. She immediately grimaced and spit the dough back into her hand, realizing they had accidentally substituted salt for sugar. She giggled at their mistake and dumped the bowl of cookie dough into the rubbish.

Joan stood up and made her way over to the door of the balcony, slowly pulling the sliding door open. "Melanie? Wake up, darling." She called softly. She watched as Melanie slowly began to rouse, squinting against the light and looking around with confusion. She froze suddenly and her eyes widened as she was overcome with a feeling of disorientation and fear.

Joan remained at the door, watching Melanie sadly as she quickly got to her feet, keeping her back to the wall, and looked around wildly until she remembered where she was. She seemed to relax slightly as she looked over at her mum.

"It's time for us to go, darling," Joan announced softly. "Are you ready?"

Melanie nodded and cautiously approached her mum, following her through the suite and toward the door with Brian, Mel, Howie, and Emma.

The group sat quietly in the van as they were driven to the hospital. Melanie followed obediently as her mum and Emma coaxed her out of the van and into the hospital where they were taken to a private room to wait for the doctor. Melanie looked somewhat relieved when Sandra and Penny entered the room and greeted the group with enthusiasm.

"How is everything going so far?" Penny asked, smiling over at Melanie and Joan.

"She's doing so well," Joan replied. "She's only tried to run off twice, so we've made some progress there. And, she's slowly starting to warm up to the girls."

"Still not eating or speaking?" Sandra asked. Joan shook her head.

"She'll eat little bits here and there," Joan replied. "Not quite as much as I'd like, but we're getting there."

"Hopefully, she'll realize soon that the food she's eating isn't going to make her see things," said Sandra as she looked over at Melanie. "The stuff Otis and the others made you eat would make you feel funny and see scary things, wouldn't it?" Melanie looked at Sandra curiously, but didn't respond.

"Nothing we've given you has done that, has it?" Joan asked, squeezing Melanie's hand and trying to get Melanie to look at her. Melanie dropped her gaze and shrugged. She picked nervously at the new tracking bracelet she'd been given, obviously wanting it removed.

"We'll check her weight before you go and see if she's lost anymore since we last checked," Sandra decided. "If she keeps declining, we'll look into some interventions."

"Howie and Mel B, you can come with me," Penny instructed. "Doctor Weaver will be removing your casts and we'll get a few x-rays to make sure everything is healed properly."

"Good luck, babes," said Mel, smiling at Melanie and patting her on the shoulder before following Penny and Howie out of the room.

"All right," said Sandra, smiling at Melanie and Brian. "Who's going first?"

"We'll all go together," Brian replied. "You can do mine first so Melanie can watch."

"That's a good idea," said Sandra, cheerfully. She led the four of them into an empty exam room and handed Melanie a hospital shirt to change into. Joan took Melanie to the ladies' toilets and waited outside while Melanie changed, then the two of them returned to the exam room as Brian was getting ready to have his stitches removed.

He was sitting on the examination table with his pant leg pulled up. A long gash stretched along the length of his calf, which had mostly healed over the previous few weeks. Most of the stitches had already been removed, but the doctors had chosen to leave a few in where the cut had been deeper and was taking longer to heal.

Melanie was guided over to a chair nearby where she sat and looked curiously at Brian's injury.

"See, just like yours," said Brian, smiling brightly. Melanie sank against the back of her chair and clutched the front of the shirt to keep from exposing herself.

"Watch what Sandra does," Joan instructed. "She's going to do the exact same thing with yours, all right?"

Melanie looked worriedly at her mum and tentatively placed her hand on her ribcage, just below her underarm where her own stitches were. Sandra made casual small talk with Brian and the girls as she removed Brian's stitches with a small blade and a pair of tweezers. Melanie watched curiously, not seeming to understand what was happening.

"See, it doesn't hurt at all," said Emma, setting her hand on Melanie's leg.

Once she was done, Sandra took the tray with the discarded stitches and the tools she'd used to remove them to the cupboard at the end of the room. She removed her gloves, washed her hands, and retrieved the second tray that Penny had prepared earlier for Melanie. "Melanie, are you ready, sweetheart?" she asked as she set the tray on the table next to the examination table. "Come up and have a seat, honey. Just like Brian did."

Melanie suddenly looked panicked as her mum took her by the hand and pulled her over to the table where Brian had been sitting. She gripped the front of the hospital gown to keep it from opening and she sat apprehensively on the edge of the table, looking worriedly over at Brian as he pulled his pant leg back down and sat on the chair she had previously been occupying. He looked up to see her watching him and he smiled kindly at her, hoping to alleviate her fear.

"There's nothing to worry about, darling," Joan assured her. "You're going to be fine."

"Maybe I should wait outside," Brian suggested as he stood back up. "I don't think she's comfortable with me here."

"We won't be long," said Sandra. Brian nodded and stepped out of the room, closing the door behind himself.

"Does that make it a little easier?" Emma asked. She walked around the table to stand behind Melanie and gently ran her hands along Melanie's shoulders. Melanie remained rigid, looking at each of the women in the room.

Melanie watched as Sandra reclined the head of the examination table slightly and she squeaked as Joan nudged her toward the table. She looked back at Emma, silently begging her to take her out of the room, but Emma just smiled back at her and patted the table, encouraging her to sit back down. Melanie dropped her head and wrapped her arms tightly around her stomach. She started panting and it was clear she was going to panic.

"Calm down," said Joan, sympathetically as she wrapped her arms around Melanie. "You saw what Sandra did with Brian. That's all she's going to do, I promise. She won't do anything to your tummy, darling."

Melanie's eyes were wild and she was struggling to breathe. She looked at Sandra's tray and held out her hand desperately, indicating she wanted the blade.

"No, you can't do it yourself," said Sandra, apologetically. "I'm sorry. I've got to do it for you, honey."

The women coaxed Melanie back onto the table and managed to get her to rest back against it, but they couldn't get her to relax. She watched Sandra closely, her eyes wide with terror as Sandra put on a pair of gloves and smiled at her.

"I'm just going to open your shirt enough to see the stitches, all right?" said Sandra. "Your tummy is going to show a little bit, but none of us will touch it." Melanie clenched her teeth and stared at the ceiling, squeezing Emma's hand tightly as Sandra gently pulled the left side of Melanie's shirt to the side, exposing the small incision on the side of Melanie's ribcage and the markings on her stomach. "You're doing great, honey," said Sandra. "I'll take these out real quick and you'll be good to go."

Melanie was breathing in short, panicked gasps and she pulled her knees up in an attempt to curl herself into a ball. She was shaking uncontrollably and was on the verge of hyperventilating.

"Stop and breathe for me, sweetheart," Sandra instructed. "I'm not going to do anything yet. Let's get you calmed down a bit first."

Melanie struggled to get her breathing back under control and let out a distressed cry as Sandra gently examined the stitches with her finger.

"You're ok," Sandra soothed.

Emma watched Melanie with concern, glancing down at the marks on her stomach and squeezing her hand supportively. Seeing what the men did to Melanie, she could understand why she was terrified. Melanie was obviously convinced they were going to cut the symbol into her stomach again.

"All right, honey," said Sandra, softly. "I'm going to need you to bring your arm up above your head so I can get at the stitches now." She gently took Melanie's arm, waiting patiently for Melanie to stop gripping the side of the table so she could position her arm behind her head.

Melanie quickly sat up, pulling her shirt closed once more, and she attempted to get off the table, but both Joan and Sandra quickly stood in front of her to stop her from getting far.

"I'm sorry," Sandra apologized quickly. "That was too much."

Melanie looked at her with terror, gripping her shirt tightly. She dropped her head and choked back a sob, cringing as though she was expecting to be struck.

"I tried to do it too quickly," Sandra explained apologetically, gently placing her hand on Melanie's shoulder. "I know this is really scary for you. We should be doing this at your pace."

"What if we don't do it on the table?" Emma suggested. "They probably hurt her while she was lying down. Maybe that's the scary bit?"

"Ok," said Sandra, trying to get Melanie to look her in the eye. "We can try that. Would that make it better?" Melanie looked back at her worriedly and slowly nodded. Sandra smiled sympathetically and gently took Melanie's hand, leading her over to the chair she had been sitting on earlier.

"We're going to have to do this a little differently then," said Sandra. Melanie watched worriedly as Sandra pulled the left side of Melanie's shirt off. She quickly covered her exposed breast with her right hand and sat rigid, keeping a close eye on Sandra.

"Joan, can you give us a hand, please? I don't want her elbowing me in the face if she panics." Sandra asked. "Can you hold her arm still for me?" Joan nodded and gently pulled Melanie's left arm across her body, keeping her elbow in one hand and holding her hand with the other. Melanie looked anxiously up at her mum before returning her focus to Sandra.

"This is much better, isn't it?" said Sandra, approvingly. "Let's get these out and then you'll be done."

Melanie tensed and began breathing in quick inhalations once more as Sandra took the blade to one of the stitches. Sandra quickly removed the stitch and stopped, looking back at Melanie and smiling.

"That was it," she announced. "That wasn't too bad, was it? Can I do the rest?" Melanie whimpered and dropped her head, not looking at all comfortable with what they were doing. "If you want me to stop, you squeeze your mum's hand, all right?"

She quickly removed another stitch, glancing back up at Melanie to see how she was doing. Melanie kept her head hung and turned away from Sandra, still breathing quickly and shaking uncontrollably. Her body was tense and she was attempting to pull her torso away from Sandra as far as she was able to.

"Just four more, baby," said Joan. "She's going to do them real quick and then you'll be done." She nodded at Sandra, indicating she could remove the last few stitches. Sandra quickly removed the last four and set the blade and the tweezers back on her tray.

"All done," said Sandra as Joan let go of Melanie's arm. "You did it."

Melanie quickly pulled her arm back into her sleeve and pulled her shirt closed, watching the women in the room apprehensively.

"Did it hurt?" Joan asked, putting her hand on Melanie's knee and looking at her with concern. Melanie swallowed hard and watched Sandra fearfully.

"She doesn't ever say 'no'," Emma mused, walking around the exam table to approach the three women. "She'll nod to tell us 'yes', but she hasn't once responded otherwise."

"Did those men tell you you couldn't say 'no'?" Joan asked, lifting Melanie's chin so she was looking at her. She tried to read Melanie's expression, but the only thing that was registering was fear.

"Come here, you," said Emma sympathetically. She pulled Melanie from the chair and wrapped her arms around her. "You did so well!" Emma gently pushed Melanie's hair behind her ears and kissed her cheek. "You can cry if you need to," she encouraged. "It's probably good for you to let it out." Melanie clenched her jaw and swallowed back the tears that were threatening to spill. "You poor thing," Emma sighed, wrapping her arms around Melanie and pulling her close. "They wouldn't let you cry either, would they?"