The couch was a bit cramped with both of them laying on it, but truthfully Melody didn't mind in the least. It gave her an excuse to stay as close to James as she could. Her head was resting on his chest, his right arm curled around her, and their legs were tangled around each other still.

James's fingers began to trail up her spine and Melody giggled involuntarily.

"I still can't believe your so ticklish," he told her, his rough voice slightly out of breath. The sound was one she'd heard before-but not in this context. Normally, he was out of breath when his nightmares tore him from sleep. But he wasn't sleeping and it wasn't nightmares that made him struggle to catch his breath.

It was her. Melody still couldn't understand that. But she believed it either way. James had told her, he'd shown her as they went. Every kiss, every touch, every word he'd whispered to her as they peeled off what remained of their clothing-he hadn't been lying to her. He'd meant it.

Now, laying in his arms, exposed in a way that would have terrified her once just felt nice.

"I wouldn't have believed it myself either," she muttered. Though she had no idea how many scars marked her back, Melody knew there were a lot. Part of her was surprised that, despite all the injuries she'd suffered, her nerves were still intact. She still had feeling across her back and she was glad for it-especially now as she felt James's cold fingers trace circles into her back. Missing out on that would have been disappointing indeed.

"James?"

She felt his head loll to the right, just enough to rest against her shoulder. "Did you smoke at any point in your life?"

One of his bright blue eyes opened at that. "How'd you know?"

"Smoking damages circulation," she said. "And that's why smokers always have cold hands and feet come to think of it." His feet were usually icy as well, a fact Melody was reminded of as he shifted closer and his cold toes brushed against her feet.

"Sorry," he said with a lazy grin. "We didn't know it was so dangerous back then."

Melody smiled. "I know, I didn't pay very good attention in history but I do know that."

"I suppose you were more interested in science?"

"More like interested in completing my requirements before I could apply to med school."

"I mean before that," James said, sitting upright so he could look at her better. "Before med school and college. When you were in high school and all that."

"I never went to high school," she told him, "I just got my GED."

"What?"

"Basically a document saying I met the academic standards for high school without actually doing high school. By the time I was fourteen I was done with it."

James's eyebrows rose up in surprise. "Wow. Well, I guess I shouldn't be so surprised. I already know how smart you are."

Melody closed her eyes and sighed. "It had nothing to do with being smart. I just wanted to go to college and get as far away from Moria as humanly possible. College was the only way to do that."

James's arm tightened around her ever so slightly. "What happened to her? After it happened? Did she remarry or-?"

"No," Melody cut him off. "Her alcoholism just spiraled out of control. She drank long before she was a widow but she was high-functioning. That changed when John was gone. Couldn't hold a job, drank all day-I couldn't be around that. So I hit the books. Got done with high school at fourteen, applied to college, left the same year and got a full-ride scholarship thanks to gymnastics. Once med school rolled around I was finally able to get into my trust fund and I used that to pay for the rest of school."

"That's why your so young," he said. "I mean for an attending surgeon-your not even thirty and-wait," he caught himself. "How old are you anyways?"

"Twenty-nine," Melody laughed. "So not quiet thirty and yes, for an attending surgeon I am young. I've only been one for a year now."

"A year? James repeated. "But you said-?"

"I lied," she said, a sheepish grin coming to her face. "Sorry but I was desperate."

"Desperate?"

"No matter what I did you'd never let me help you," she told him, recalling the early days before they'd grown close. James had been bull-headed, aloof, rude and more than reluctant to accept any help. "I thought part of that might have been because you thought I was inexperienced or under-qualified, so I decided to find out. I gave myself four extra years on the job and a promotion-you still didn't change your mind about me. So at least I knew it wasn't because you thought I was bad at the job."

James leaned closer, his forehead pressing against hers. His arm slid off her back and towards her face, pulling her closer and their lips met. This kiss was a little different from the others that had passed between them a few minutes ago. This wasn't desperate and hungry. This was soft and sweet and he broke away before Melody could do anything to change that.

"It wasn't because I thought you were too young." He said, his voice soft and Melody brushed his hair from his face. "I just didn't think you could handle me. The trauma I went through-it's not what med school prepares you for. I didn't think you could do anything to help. I didn't think you could understand."

"You're not wrong," she said. "Med school didn't teach me anything that could help you."

"But I was wrong," James said. "You could understand, you do understand and I'm sorry it took so much for me to realize that."

"When did you realize that I knew what I was talking about?" She asked, letting her hand rise up to touch his face. The stubble was rough under her palm. "When you found out that John supposedly committed suicide in front of me?"

James's mouth twitched as he fought back a smile. His metal hand curled around her own and she shivered as she felt his lips brush against her palm and then her fingers. "Yeah, I started getting a reality check then. But it didn't fully hit me how much you knew until that night when I saw your scar."

"Which one?" That came out before she could stop it. She saw James scowl and his hand tightened on hers. He pulled her hand away from his face and bent his head low, brushing a kiss across the start of the scar on her arm.

"Oh," her voice shot up in pitch feeling the soft press of his lips against the scar. "I guess that makes sense." Only now did she remember that her sleeve had been pulled up when she'd woken that night on the couch. "That was why you thought I'd done it, wasn't it? Because of where it was?"

James's metal finger brushed across the scar. "Sort of." He sighed and then looked up at her sheepishly. "Remember that day Sharon visited and you yelled yourself hoarse at her?"

"Because she put triggering material in front of you without any regard for your mental well-being? I remember." And she still wasn't over it either. Behaviors like that were the reasons blondes got a bad reputation.

James's shy grin grew even wider. "Yeah that never happened."

"What now?"

"She did want to talk to me alone, that's why she told you to go shower. But it had nothing to do with Hydra. It was about you."

"Me?" She was unable to keep the surprise out of her voice. "What did Sharon want to talk to you about me for? If it's about coffee I already told her-."

James laughed. "No, not about your higher than average coffee intake. She was angry at me for leaving you alone like I did. She told me that she was scared you cut yourself. She told me I needed to keep an eye on you, to make sure things didn't escalate."

Melody's heart swelled in her chest and she suddenly felt remorse for the lecture she'd given Sharon. I don't know what I did to deserve a friend like her. "Well now I feel bad," she said. "She was just trying to look out for me and I yelled at her for it."

"She wanted it that way," James told her, forehead leaning into her shoulder as he followed the scar up her arm. "She didn't want you to know she was so worried-she was afraid you'd just try harder to hide."

Heat washed over Melody's body as James's kisses trailed farther, towards the end of the scar and one final peck against her neck. "You know," she said, breathless as she felt his hand human hand trace the scar between her breasts. "It's hard to have a conversation when I'm this distracted."

James laughed softly against her throat. "Did you want me to stop?"

"Oh God no!" She gasped as his hand slid lower, fingers dancing lightly on her right hip. "Don't stop."

James laughed again and leaned into her, "If you say so," he bent his head, kissing her again, slowly but the kiss was alight with promise of what was to come. It was a slow and steady fever that was burning them both.

Melody wrapped her arms around his neck, ready to pull him down on her, just to feel his body against hers again but before she could do that, she heard her cell phone buzz.

"Dammit," she growled breaking away and grabbing blindly for her phone. She glanced at the number and saw the familiar number of the hospital.

"Doctor Frasier," she said, hitting the green answer button even as she laid down again as James began to kiss her collar bone.

"Mel you need to get in here." The voice of Doctor Richards, the on call orthopedic surgeon answered her.

"What happened-oh!" James's mouth trailed over her right breast, sending an bolt of need through her body.

"Mel what's wrong?" she asked, voice colored with concern.

"Nothing," she lied, voice too breathless to be convicting. "What's going on?"

"A once in a lifetime surgery is what's happening. I'm putting together a team and you're my first pick."

"What's the surgery?"

"A bullet lodged in the spine-if anyone can remove it it's you. Avery wants to try but I'd rather offer it to you first. Avery's not bad, but he's not as good under stress as you are. We can't afford a freeze up in this and there's a reason you're Doctor Freezer."

Melody squeezed her eyes shut, already visualizing the scans of the spine nd the OR as she fought to help wrong move, one moment of hesitation and the patient wouldn't be able to walk again. Miranda was right, Avery wasn't as good as her and if this wound was as bad as she feared, she worried Avery might be too far out of his league to be helpful. Why he'd chosen trauma was beyond Melody. He should have gone into general, there was more routine there.

"I'll be there in thirty minutes."

Melody could almost hear Richards smile. "That's what I wanted to hear."

She hung up the phone and pressed her hand against James's chest. His breath was ragged but it couldn't disguise the disappointment in his voice. "I thought you weren't on call?"

"I'm not," she said. "But a case just came in, a bullet to the spine-the guy they have right now isn't cut out for it. He's good but-."

"He's not you," James finished. He sighed but still smiled at her. "Go," he said. "Go and save his life."

"It's not his life I'll be saving," Melody told him as she grabbed her clothing from the floor. "It's just his legs. One wrong move and he's paralyzed."

"Then make sure he can walk again," James said even as Melody slid away from him and pulled on her bra and shirt.

"I will," she grabbed her pager and phone and slipped both into her pocket. "Bye James," she said, brushing a kiss across his lips. "I love you."

Thanks for reading! :)