A/N: Funny little thing here. Something those reading my stories are often not aware of. If you are, you have access to my computer I am not aware of.
I make a LOT of notes as I write these stories, and even more after I write them. As I publish on two separate sites (well, actually a bunch of sites, but only two anyone has really heard of), I often read over my own stories, find errors, and post them over to my drafts to make corrections before I post it the next time.
This chapter had a LOT of notes, folks. Which leads to possibly a lot of continuity errors. Think of it like a 'Where's Waldo' puzzle.
And as always, enjoy.
LET'S GET DRUNK - Part III
Layton was not looking forward to daybreak under the circumstances. He had had enough experience in his college days to know what was coming.
A slight moan greeted the sun's rays shining into the bedroom from Melanie's side of the bed.
But even as bad as she sounded, he wasn't above having a little fun just the same as he sat already leaned up against the headboard behind them.
"Oh look!" He stated in a less then quiet manner. "It must be Halloween. The dead have risen."
Melanie moaned again as she slowly rolled over. "Where am I?" She asked, looking around the room. "What happened last night?"
Layton smiled down at her. "You want me to actually answer those questions, or would you rather just quietly read the police report?"
Melanie tried to pull herself up a little, but gave up and fell back into the bed. "Why are you even still here? It's morning. Don't you have meetings or something?"
Layton smiled again. "Waiting."
"Waiting for what?"
Layton held up a finger, which she tried to focus on. But something else was suddenly claiming her immediate attention as she abruptly bolted out of the bed and with surprising agility, ran to the bathroom.
Layton sighed as he pulled himself out of bed and headed after her. "That."
A few moments later, Layton patiently stood behind her, holding her hair out of the way as the episode eventually degenerated into dry heaves.
"What I don't understand," He commented, handing her a wet wash cloth as Melanie slowly angled her body so she was now sitting on the floor, leaning against the cool tiles, "is when did you even have time to eat anything?"
Melanie shook her head slightly. "If you were a friend, you would shoot me." She moaned.
"No, no. A 'friend' would still be in the bed, laughing. But a 'real friend' is the one who is standing behind you, keeping your hair out of the way."
Melanie slowly shook her head again. "How much did I drink last night?"
Layton gave her a serious stare. "We're still trying to figure that one out. We finally turned it over to Knox since he's the one who could do the calculations on how large the average stomach is and how much alcohol Ms. Audrey actually had on hand."
Melanie managed a small frown.
Layton leaned over just a little. "So," he asked her, the smile still firmly in place, "what did we learn from this little venture?"
Melanie worked on focusing on him again. "Alcohol is faster than pills?"
"Probably true. But incorrect. Try again."
Melanie thought again. "You can blame a lot of stuff on alcohol?"
Layton shook his head again. "Alcohol is never a solution." He answered her.
Melanie tried to begin to stand. "Not to get too technical, Mr. Layton," She replied, "but while it may not be an excuse, according to chemistry, alcohol is a solution."
Layton offered her an arm to steady herself with as he gently helped her to her feet. "Come on. Lets pour you back into bed. I'll make you some soup or something."
The minute he said it, Layton immediately regretted it as Melanie violently shook off his hold and turning around, again proceeded to throw up.
For several minutes he sat with her again, waiting for her to get over the latest wave of dry heaves. But finally she managed to push herself back into a seated position again on the floor.
"Again," Layton asked, "when did you have time to eat anything last night?"
Leaning against the tiles behind her on the wall, Melanie waved a finger at him as she sat with closed eyes.
"Listen to me, Layton," she stated in a pained and tired, but very controlled voice, "whatever drunk me said or did, you gotta take it up with drunk me. Don't come at sober me, because we weren't there. We don't know what happened."
"Fair enough." Layton agreed. "Ready for bed?"
Melanie nodded slightly, then allowed him to get her to her feet again. He helped her balance at the sink while she rinsed out her mouth, then slowly trudged back to bed.
"You know what I really miss?" Layton commented as they headed back to the bedroom.
"Peace and quiet?" Melanie grumbled.
"Well, that too." Layton went on. "But what I REALLY miss is breakfast."
Melanie stopped in her tracks, turning a disgruntled questioning stare to him. "Really? That's what you're thinking about right now? How much you miss breakfast?"
Layton nodded. "Yeah. But a really good breakfast. You know. Toast, jam, orange juice, bacon. Lots and lots of bacon. And not too cooked. I liked it a little chewy. And with lots of grease. And eggs! Man, nothing beat eggs fried up in bacon grease. You ever had that?"
Melanie froze for a moment as she kept that stare on him. But slowly it slipped into a deep scowl.
"I hate you." She stated, and shoving him off, headed back into the bathroom.
Several minutes later Layton was again helping her back to her feet.
"Still hate me?" He asked carefully.
"No. I don't hate you." Melanie replied, trying to focus mostly on just making it back to the bed. "I'm just not necessarily excited about your existence at the moment."
He got her to the sink once more and helped her clean up again and rinse her mouth out.
"Are you sure this time?" He asked, slowly helping her back to the bedroom.
Melanie stopped shuffling towards the bed and sighed quietly.
"Bacon, bacon, bacon." She answered, then waited for a moment. But finally she gave him a slight nod and moved forward again.
"Just making sure this time." He said as he carefully helped her sit down on the bed. Making sure she was stable for a moment, Layton went to the kitchen and returned shortly with a glass in his hand.
"Here. Have a drink of water." He offered with a slight smile. "Surprise your liver. "
Melanie scowled at him again as she took the glass and carefully sipped at the water.
"You want some aspirin or something?" He asked carefully.
Melanie shook her head. All she really wanted was to go back to sleep.
Layton helped her arrange herself back in the bed and finally pulled the comforter over her, leaving the rest of the blankets off. The outer room was starting to heat up and that usually afforded the bedroom to also be warmer than it was at night.
As he settled himself in the one chair in the room, he turned back to the bed to find her watching him through a little more focused stare.
"Go to sleep, Melanie." He told her in a quieter voice.
She lay in the bed for a few moments.
"Layton?"
Layton looked up from the book he had grabbed off the nightstand. "Yeah?"
She favored him with a slight smile. "In case I forget to tell you later, thanks."
He returned a deeper smile. "Go to sleep."
Melanie lay in the bed for several minutes this time. But suddenly she seemed to wake up again and gave a half-hearted effort to pull up in the bed.
Layton was out of his chair in a flash. "Whoa, whoa, whoa!" He stated. "What are you doing?"
Melanie fell back in the bed. "Shift." She answered in a sleepy voice. "My shift starts..."
Layton lay her back in the bed and adjusted the comforter over her again. "No, no. No shift today. Bennett already knows you're not coming in today. So there's only one thing on your agenda for today. And that's sleep."
Melanie rolled over in the bed and settled down into the mattress with a deep sigh. "OK. That sounds good."
For the next several hours, Layton sat in the chair in the room, barely focusing on his book as he watched over her as she slept.
Thankfully, after a hard morning, Melanie slept most for the rest of the day, leaving Layton to hopefully speculate she had managed in those hours to distill most of the alcohol out of her bloodstream and return it to something more near normal.
When she finally woke up he wasn't sure what he was in for. In those hours, having spent most of the same amount of time awake as she had, he had finally assumed she would be alright for a few hours and curled up on his side of the bed and gotten a few hours in himself.
In the early afternoon, however, he woke up to an odd feeling. Focusing on everything directly in his line of vision, everything seemed all right from that perspective.
Giving a quiet sigh, he slowly looked over his shoulder.
In the bed next to him, Melanie was sitting up against her pillows, her arms crossed in front of her as she studied the sole window in the bedroom.
Layton cautiously rolled over in the bed to face her. He knew her when she got like this. She had something on her mind and she was hard at work trying to figure it out.
"Good morning or afternoon." He offered quietly, not even sure if she would hear him.
"Afternoon." Came the flat reply.
"You OK?" He ask.
"Headache." She replied in the inflectionless tone.
Layton pulled himself up to match her position in the bed. "OK." He stated. "Let's hear it."
From her posture and tone, he knew all too well she wasn't just thinking something over, she was angry about it. The trick now was to figure out how much he was a part of that anger.
Melanie seemed to fall back into her silent contemplative state again for a few moments.
"How drunk was I?" She finally ask.
"Does 'pretty darned' answer that for you?"
"So we came back to the cabin?" She asked.
"Yeah. I think it was about one in the morning."
"And there was you...and Alex...and Bennett..."
"And later Ms. Audrey came to help us get you into bed, because we weren't having much luck with that." He answered with a small, cautious smile. He still had no idea where this was going.
Melanie paused for a moment, but then slowly turned to him.
"I wouldn't go to sleep." She stated, looking directly at him. "So we played a game, right?"
Layton froze. Suddenly he had a very good idea where this was headed. And he was in deep.
"Ummm..., yeah. You...wanted to play 'Secrets'. I tried to tell you it wasn't a good idea when you were drunk."
"But you played anyway." She stated, still staring at him.
Layton went into defensive mode, although he knew he didn't have much of one. "You were pretty insistent, Melanie."
"You could have said 'No'."
"I did. You didn't like that answer."
Melanie fixed her stare on him even harder. "You asked me about that picture again, didn't you?" She asked.
Layton paused, but finally nodded to her. "All right. Yes. That was my question. And I know..."
"You took advantage of me." She stated plainly, cutting him off. "That question was deemed off limits. But you wanted an answer. You just couldn't leave it alone! And you used a moment of weakness against me to get something you wanted."
Layton swore he couldn't have felt worse if he tried. She was utterly right. He knew he shouldn't have done it, but the curiosity was simply eating at him, and he saw an opportunity to get the answer he needed to satisfy that curiosity.
"Listen, Melanie," he answered her in an apologetic tone, "I'm sorry. I knew it wasn't fair and I still did it anyway. I don't have a single excuse to give you for what I did. All I can do now is tell you I'm very sorry and hope you..."
"That 'game' was suppose to mean something." She cut him off again. This time in a genuinely hurt tone. "I trusted you with the things I told you. I trusted you would never repeat them to anyone else."
"And I never have." Layton tried to impress on her. "I just...I just asked the wrong question. I'm sorry. And...and I know it isn't much of a defense, but I didn't asked you what the picture was of, only what you broke."
The hurt tone quickly turned back to anger. "You tried!"
Layton wisely kept his mouth shut this time. He could feel her anger building again like a physical force between them, and trying to fight her on this one would only make things worse than they already were. Especially when he had no grounds to defend himself. He had tried to go digging further, even though the game did not allow that.
Abruptly Melanie pulled herself out of the bed and headed for the bathroom.
Layton sighed as he heard the door open and close. There was a few brief minutes of silence before the water came on.
All he wanted to do was get dressed and get out of the cabin as fast as possible. Give her some time to cool off. But that would look too much like he was running off. Deserting her.
So instead he got up and got dressed and went out to the kitchen to make some tea.
Sitting at the table when she finally came out of the bedroom after getting dressed he tried to stop her making a straight line for the door.
"Melanie..."
But she barreled right past him just the same without so much as a word.
Listening to the door to the cabin slide shut, he slowly shook his head. He had no idea how to fix this one.
He wasn't even sure if they could fix it this time. He knew she was hurt, and he wasn't going to deny her one second of feeling that way. What he did was the ultimate betrayal between them. A betrayal of trust.
"Well," he sighed to himself, "I guess on this one we're even now."
That evening Melanie wasn't looking forward to coming back to the cabin. She was still upset with Layton, but her anger had tempered itself a bit through the day. But she still wasn't ready to see him.
However, with extremely mixed feelings, when she got to the cabin she found he had totally removed her need to even make that decision.
Walking in she laid her notebook on the table in the main room only to find he had apparently already been there and left a note for her.
'Working late. Likely not in tonight.' Was all the note said.
Melanie sighed as she read the note over. It wasn't the first time he hadn't come back to the cabin all night. But unlike her, his overnight absences were usually due to some tension between them that he just wasn't ready to face down yet.
Grabbing something quick to eat, Melanie sat down on the sofa to review her notes from that day. But lacking the distraction of the engine, her mind kept drifting back to her fight with Layton that afternoon until she finally gave up trying to get any work done that evening.
Getting up, she grabbed her jacket on the way out the door.
Sitting at the bar in the same seat that it seemed at times Audrey reserved for Layton or her, Melanie was unloading to her favorite sounding board while Audrey tended to a glass before her, flaked by several large containers.
"So let me get this straight." Audrey finally replied after Melanie had talked none stop for about 15 minutes. "Since the party last night, when your brain went from 'I probably shouldn't do this.' to 'What the heck! Let's see what happens!', now you suddenly don't trust Andre?"
Melanie stared back up at the woman behind the bar. "It's not that I don't trust him on some level, Audrey..."
But the Night Car manager quickly cut her off. "Then you're going to have to start over again, Melanie. Because that's all I got out of that little diatribe of yours."
Melanie gave her a frustrated look. "Audrey! He knew I was...not myself..."
"It's called 'drunk', dear." Audrey quickly put in.
Melanie frowned again. "Fine! He knew I was...drunk...and he used that to try and get something he wanted out of me. He knew very good and well what he was doing, he knew it was a private matter to me, and he did it anyway."
Audrey picked up a glass, sniffed the contents, then quickly poured them in the sink. "Melanie, face facts. He made a MISTAKE. Men do that. They do it a lot. Especially with people they care about. Now, left to me, if I had to pick one person I would stick you in a room half naked with and make a sure bet nothing was going to happen, it's Andre Layton. You LIVE together, for heaven's sake. You SLEEP with the man, Has he ever done anything you would call even remotely questionable?"
Melanie thought about the question for a few moments. What Audrey said was true. She and Layton had been living together for months now in what pre-freeze would be considered a relatively small space. They slept in the same bed nearly every night, and they were completely comfortable around each other.
Looking back up at the woman behind the bar, Melanie slowly shook her head.
"But all of the sudden, after one unfortunate incident, which, if I understood the situation correctly, YOU initiated, suddenly he's on 'the ten most untrustworthy men on this train' list?" Audrey frowned at her. "You're just not making sense here, Melanie."
"Audrey...,"
"Melanie," She quickly cut her friend off again, "he made a M.I.S.T.A.K.E.. He didn't plan it. It wasn't done out of maliciousness. He asked a question. That was all."
"It was planned." Melanie countered. "He didn't just blurt that question out. He thought about it. It was something he had wanted to know for weeks, and he saw his opportunity to get his answer and he took it."
Audrey sighed loudly as she studied the other woman. "Look," she finally said, "this is my advice. If you can't forgive and forget, then pick one. Because the way your holding onto it, this can and probably will continue to eat away at your relationship with Andre until there's nothing left."
Melanie sighed as she got up and left the bar. What Audrey said was likely true. She hadn't been able to really concentrate on anything else that whole day except the issue between her and Layton. Even Bennett had noticed she wasn't really concentrating on her work and had moved her out of the engine to the helm later in the afternoon.
'What did you break?'
Why did he have to ask that question? What did it get him? What information was so important about what she broke that he couldn't let it go?
She had answered him truthfully. She had told him it was a picture. He had tried to dig further, but she had stopped him cold.
'You asked your question,' She told him flat out. 'You don't get to go digging for details.'
Feeling he was on shaky ground even with a drunken roommate, Layton had pulled back.
Walking about the train for a while, Melanie kept mulling over Audrey's words.
'If you can't forgive and forget, pick one.'
Maybe Audrey was right. Layton wasn't perfect at this relationship of theirs anymore than she was. Yes, he had made a mistake. And a bad one. But aside from Bennett, no one on the train had ever shown her more conclusively just how much they cared for her.
What had her question been? 'Do you love me?'
She remembered that part of the game quite well also, once the alcohol cleared her brain.
She smiled slightly. He had looked absolutely terrified at the question. But truthfully, his answer hadn't surprised her one bit.
He loved her as a friend. And he had proved that to her over and over and over again. Not just by the big things he had done to step up and protect her, but by so many more of the smaller little things he did.
After what seemed like the better part of the evening, Melanie found her wanderings had eventually led her back to the cabin. But walking in, she found she didn't stay long. The cabin had at one time been her sanctuary. The place where she went to get away from her new world.
But stepping into it now, it just seemed silent and empty. There was no one there to greet her with a customary smile. No one asking her how her day went. No one to offer a comforting embrace because it had simply been to long a day, or to listen to her tell some ridiculous story about what the apprentice engineers had gotten up to that day.
Sighing to herself, she decided she wasn't going to let go of this relationship without a fight.
Keeping her jacket on, she headed back into the corridor.
If she didn't know Layton on some level, Melanie was fairly certain she would have spent the rest of the night trying to find him. But one of the things she liked about him was that he was predictable. And so her search led her on a single course straight to the council chambers.
Just as she used the cabin as a place to shut out the world, his room to accomplish the same thing was, oddly, the council chamber. From the earliest nights when she would toss him out of the cabin, this had been his refuge. He said it was because it was nice and large, kept heated at night because it was close to the engine, and the rug was relatively soft so he could sleep on the floor.
Opening the door, Melanie silently congratulated herself on her logic serving her once again.
Looking up from where he was seated on the floor, reading over some notes, Layton looked surprised to see her, but quickly masked it behind an almost bored expression.
"Thought you would be at the cabin." He stated in a flat tone, going back to the papers he was holding in front of him.
"And I thought you were working late." She replied, casually walking over to where he was sitting.
"I am." He answered her, though there was very little inflection in his tone.
Melanie put her back to the wall next to where he sat and slowly lowered herself to the floor next to him. "No you're not." She stated. "You're hiding."
"And apparently doing a rotten job of it." He answered in the same expressionless manner.
"Because you're so predictable."
She hated that he wasn't even looking at her. Not out of anger. In his voice alone she could so clearly hear the self-deprecation, which cut her just as deeply. At his core, he was a good man. And she wasn't about to let him beat himself down one more minute because of one mistake.
"This is like you're second home." She continued, gesture to the room. "Whenever you...need a place to go. This is where you come."
"Not true." He held up a finger. "Sometimes Audrey lets me stay at her place."
"So why aren't you there?"
Layton paused for a moment. "No room at the inn?"
Melanie quickly deciphered his cryptic answer. "She rented your room."
Layton shrugged. "She's running a business, not a charity hostel."
Melanie looked around them for a few moments. "This can't be very comfortable."
"It'll do."
"For how long?"
This time Layton turned to her. "Depends. How long are you going to stay mad at me this time?"
Melanie set her stare on him. "I'm not mad at you, Layton." She replied finally, then added in a softer tone. "I'm disappointed."
Layton turned back to his notes. "Go back to being mad. I have 'disappointed in me' pretty well covered."
Melanie gave a quiet sigh. "You made a mistake, Layton." She finally answered him. "A bad one. But you told me once that a relationship was two imperfect people who refuse to give up on each other."
Layton let the hand he was holding the papers in drop a bit before turning back to her, but he couldn't think of a thing to say to her. He knew he had done wrong. The worst wrong he could do to her. She already had trust issues, and he broke trust with her. He had clearly known she was vulnerable, and he used it against her. And he couldn't think of one thing to say to her to make it right.
Carefully she leaned over a little so she could stare up at his face.
"Look, I built this train, and I know for a fact the carpet in this room isn't that great. If we're going to sit on the floor all night, can we at least go do it in our cabin?"
Slowly Melanie got back to her feet, then turned back to him when he didn't follow her lead.
She reached a hand down to him. "Come home." She said. But when he didn't respond still, she softly added, "Please?"
Layton looked back at her. "Why?"
Melanie managed a small smile for him. "Because I want to know you're safe." She replied in a quieter tone.
Layton gave a tired sigh, then reached up and took her hand, but managed to lift himself up mostly under his own volition, sure she couldn't have moved his entire weight on her own.
Slowly they headed for the door as she stepped up next to him. She wrapped an arm companionably about his waist as she turned to him.
"Layton?"
Layton looked down her now very serious expression.
"Don't ever do that again." She told him in the same soft tone.
Layton gently kissed the top of her head. "Never again." He quietly promised.
As he reached to open the door, she stopped him.
"And don't ever ask about that picture again." She said, looking up at him again.
Layton solemnly nodded.
"No questions." Melanie reiterated. "No looking for it, no questioning anyone else about it. Nothing."
Layton gave a completely serious look in response. "I promise." He replied finally. "It's your secret. You're allowed to have those, too." He added with a small smile.
Melanie gave a satisfied nod as they stepped out of the room. But just as the door closed behind them, she looked up at him again. "What do you mean, 'too'?"
