CHAPTER 15 WAIT! I CAN EXPLAIN PART III
He was never actually completely sure of Melanie's relationship with Bennett. If anything, to him it seemed constantly on the edge.
But the one thing Layton thought he could forever hold to, was that the man's relationship with Melanie was none of his business, while on the flip side of that, his relationship with her was none of Bennett's business either.
But with one unforeseeable act, they were now all in it together.
That morning when he came back to the room to check on her he wasn't sure exactly how things would go between the two going forward. All that he knew, all that he cared about, was that she was hurt by what had happened. And that was his sole concern. Bennett had hurt her, and the man was either going to make it right, or he was going to get out of her life. And Layton swore the man was going to understand the rules very clearly.
He had nothing against Bennett personally. The man was an extremely competent engineer. He wasn't on par with Melanie, but Layton knew he was learning from her. Soon the train would have two engineers perfectly capable of covering for each other. And in the background Javi was always watching and learning as well.
But Bennett had surprised him by coming to the table as contrite, humble, and apologetic as any person could be.
That had earned him points in the eyes of the train's new Chancellor.
He had earned further points in that he listened to their explanation and with little contesting, seemed to accepted it.
Layton wasn't sure if the man completely believed them, but what he did understand was Bennett's feelings. The man was on the verge of losing someone very important to him. And he had come to the cabin that morning, all but on his knees, to get her back.
Layton also knew that despite Melanie and Bennett's words to each other, things were still not all that smooth between them.
These things took time, he sighed to himself as he went through his day's work, wondering where the situation would stand that night.
Melanie rarely talked about her relationship with Bennett. On the few times he did venture to make any comment about it, she would wave it off. It was like watching someone simply shutting a door on a topic they didn't want to talk about.
He noted throughout the time he had been staying in the cabin that she had a remarkable ability to do that. Fights between them were not uncommon. As far as Layton was concerned, it was just part of a healthy relationship. Friends didn't always agree. And between people as volatile as he and his chief engineer, that usually was the preamble to a fight.
But the interesting part with Melanie was, when she was done, she was done. The door would shut and she simply would not discuss the matter any more.
He always asserted it was because she had run out of arguments for her side.
This, of course, usually led to another fight.
He was the first one back to the cabin that night. All in all the day hadn't been too bad. He was just about to get dinner started when he heard the door slide open.
"Melanie?" He called.
She quickly appeared in the main room, setting a few notes down on the table. "Who else would it be?" She asked.
Layton quickly ran a rolodex of the people who had access to their room. "Javi, Till, Roche, Bennett..., the ghost of Wilford for all I know."
Melanie frowned at him. "Please don't mention his name in this cabin."
Layton gave her a slight smile. "So," he carefully broached the subject, "how did things go today?"
Melanie gave a small shrug. "I suppose better than most days. At least no major components broke down today, or any major emergencies cropped up."
Layton frowned at her over the counter. "You know what I mean." He stated. "Did Bennett behave himself or do I have to go knock him on his backside again?"
Melanie quickly pointed a finger at him. "We've had this talk, Mr. Layton. Bennett is my problem. Not yours."
The smile quickly returned. "And you're MY problem. And if anyone bothers my problem, THEY become my problem."
Melanie returned the smile. She actually found herself sort of liking his protective nature towards her, even if she outwardly showed annoyance at it.
"For your information, he was very...attentive today. I could hardly get him to leave me alone."
"Normal people call that 'clingy'," Layton translated. "And it's because he's still not sure he's on solid ground with you."
Melanie pulled up a frown again. "Well, he felt 'on solid ground' enough to ask me to have dinner with him tonight."
"Dinner?" Layton asked as he looked up.
"So we could...talk." She answered.
Layton gave a small laugh. "Oh, right. 'Talk'." He turned back to her. "So why are you here? Come to get your jammies?"
"I'm here...," she answered with an annoyed expression, "because I turned him down. I told him I already had plans tonight."
"Liar."
The expression remained. "If you'll recall, I said I would have dinner with you."
"My apologies." Layton smiled at her. "And I'm proud of you just the same. Make him crawl a little. He deserves that much."
"It's not making him 'crawl', Layton." She replied. "It's...I thought he knew me better than that. To think I would...," her tone switched quickly from a statement to a question, "...that I would stoop that low just to keep the train?" She stopped for a moment, then added in a low whisper. "I just thought he knew me better."
"I already told you, Melanie." Layton said. "He's a man. He was angry. He was scared. He was confused. Speaking for all men everywhere, that's about as bad as we get. And we don't think very well under those circumstances. But," he added, "let's just shelve Mr. Knox for right now." He stated as he tapped the counter with a spatula. "I believe I promised you dinner."
Melanie gave him a small smile and a nod in return.
While they ate, although she joined in the conversation, Layton could tell her attention wasn't really on the subject matter. But he let it go for the night. She was still trying to find that equilibrium that was so important to her. And that was only something she could do by herself.
Not that he didn't keep right on trying to help. Which was likely the last thing he should have done.
One thing he had learned about Melanie Cavill, was that you could only prod her so much before she let you know in no uncertain terms she had had enough.
Her tipping point with him came the next morning as she was getting dressed. After putting on his boots, he turned to where she sat on her side of the bed brushing out her hair.
"Big plans for the day?" He asked.
"I have a date with a very temperamental wiring board on the third level of the engine. I'm sure it will be interesting."
"Is anyone helping?" He hated her working with the engine's wiring system alone. The last time she had ended up thrown across the room by a jolt from said 'temperamental board' and only an alarm to the disruption in power in that section of the engine had anyone finding her within a few minutes instead of a few hours.
"Javi is helping me."
"That's good. I suppose you could use a break from Bennett."
Melanie gave a small sigh. A clear sign she was reaching her limit on the matter. "Bennett and I will work things out." She replied. "It'll just take time."
Layton gave a slight wave in the air with his hand. "Oh, I have no doubt the two of you will eventually work out this...whatever this weird relationship is you have."
Melanie immediately rounded on him, a warning finger already in front of her.
Layton stared back at her. "What?"
"I'd be very careful about calling another relationship 'weird', Mr. Layton." She warned him.
Layton thought for a moment. "There's nothing 'weird' about our relationship."
Melanie raised an eyebrow at him. "And that's why Bennett is having such an easy time understanding it."
"Well, I don't understand yours either. So we're even. And my relationship with you is a lot less complicated than his. "
Melanie walk straight up to him. "Really?" She stated, looking down at him. "And where do you sleep every night, Mr. Layton?"
Layton only stared back at her, sensing a trap, but totally unable to see the ropes. "In a bed." He answered carefully.
"MY bed, Mr. Layton." She emphasized.
"It's cold."
"And I've slept with you more than I've slept with Bennett in the seven years we've been on this train."
"So?"
"So not so long ago you held a scalpel to my throat and threatened to kill me." An almost smug expression told him.
"You drugged me and put me in a drawer." Layton quickly threw back at her.
"I was keeping you safe. You were going to murder me in cold blood."
"It's not the same thing. I trusted you. You betrayed me."
"You were going to destroy everything I had spent the last seven years keeping in balance."
"For the greater good."
"For yourself and your Tailie friends."
"You're system was wrong!"
"It wasn't perfect, but it worked!"
"For you and YOUR friends."
"You were alive!"
"Because we ate rats instead of filet mignon."
Melanie stopped as she stared up at him past a steel hard gaze.
It wasn't really a fight.
It wasn't really even an argument.
It was more a scene they played out from time to time. A way to blow off steam and release some of the tension that would build up between them.
The steel hard gaze softened a little as she kept it fixed on him.
"And where are you going to sleep tonight, Mr. Layton?"
Layton stared back up at her, matching her look. "I'm thinking about trying your side of the bed tonight. It's softer."
Melanie pulled back as she turned and headed for the bedroom door.
"I'll see you tonight, Layton."
Layton sat in silence as he watched her leave. It wasn't until he heard the front door close that he suddenly gave a small laugh.
She was right.
Their relationship was plenty weird.
That night Melanie came back to their quarters utterly exhausted. It had been a long day, but she and Javi had managed to work up a new wiring board and slip it into place without disrupting the train's engine. After it was in place and working they took out the old board and spent the rest of the afternoon striping what useful components they could from it before sending the rest to the compost cars.
Nothing ever went to waste on the train.
Walking into the main room, she gave a small smile. How quickly had she stopped thinking of this as 'her cabin' and instead as 'their quarters'. How quickly she had gone from living by herself to living with a man that she still had issues with on some level, if she was truthful about the matter only to herself. She still had questions about some of his actions. Things she simply hadn't been able to reconcile, But she kept those to herself for the time being.
Sighing Melanie pushed the thoughts aside as she did so many times before. She was simply too tired to think about those things now. Maybe one day she would go talk to Audrey about them. Audrey always seemed to have good answers that made sense, or good cold hard facts to make things make sense.
Heading for the bedroom, all she wanted right then was her warm thermals and her soft bed.
Opening the door to the bedroom, she stopped abruptly in the doorway.
A large body already occupied the bed, curled up under the blankets.
On her side of the bed.
Walking into the room, she sighed again quietly. She was simply too tired to fight with him about it tonight.
'Compromises', she silently told herself. Their relationship was all about compromises.
Stripping out of her cloths in the dark with her back to him, she slipped into the thermals with a contented sigh, then turned back to the bed. Ready to walk around to the other side, she stopped suddenly at the sight that greeted her.
Even in the semi-darkness she could clearly see that the shape on the bed had shifted and was now curled up on the other side, leaving her half of the bed vacant.
She smiled at the gesture.
Compromises indeed.
Crawling under the covers, she quickly settled into the already warmed area on her side.
For a few minutes she lay staring at the ceiling.
"Thank you." She finally whispered to the darkness.
She didn't expect an answer, but she got one anyway.
"Uh-hmmm." Came the equally soft answer.
Melanie turned her head to look at him with a small smile, amused at how tired he sounded. Apparently she wasn't the only one who had had a hard day.
"Is that all I'm getting tonight?" She asked.
""Um-hmm." Came the same quiet answer.
Melanie lay in the darkness of the room for a few moments.
"Hard day?" She asked.
Layton always seemed to have a standard answer for that question. "Which one's aren't?"
"Person, place, or thing?"
"Always person." Came the groggy reply.
"Any particular person?"
A deep sigh proceeded the answer this time. "You have nearly 3000 to choose from. So take your pick."
Melanie gave a small laugh. "Really? The whole train came at you today?"
"Felt like it."
Melanie turned her head slightly to him. "So what did you do?"
"Subtrain. Here." Came the shortened answer.
Although practically in code, she understood his meaning. It was his standard 'run for cover' answer. As soon as he had the chance, he jumped in the subtrain and headed for the cabin.
Their cabin had been situated directly above one of the subtrain's stations. Something Layton professed many times he felt was the best attribute of the cabin.
"It's like having your own private access to the subway system." He declared happily after Melanie had shown him the access door.
Melanie had frowned at the answer.
"What makes having private access to a subway so great?" She asked.
"You only asked that because I doubt you've ridden a subway in your whole life."
Melanie gave him silence as a answer.
"Thought so."
"Well we didn't exactly have subways in a farming community, Layton." She said. "And when I worked for Wilford industries, I...had my own car."
"With a private parking space no doubt." He had replied.
Melanie shrugged. "I was the head engineer of a lot of projects then. Of course the position came with perks. Didn't you get perks as a detective?"
Layton had at first given her a very serious look in response to the question, then a small smile. "Absolutely. If at the end of the day no one had tried to shoot me, I considered that my 'perk' for the day."
Laying in the bed, Melanie fell into silence again for a few moments. But finally she rolled over and nudged him slightly.
"Hey, Layton?"
"Hmmmm?" Came the same tired answer.
"In case I forgot to tell you..., thank you."
This time the body next to her rolled over to face her.
"For what?"
"For the other morning." She replied. "For...being my supporter."
Layton gave her a small smile in return. "You're welcome..., for being your 'supporter'." He paused for a moment. "Any chance we could try for 'friend'?"
Melanie thought about the request. "Ally." She finally agreed to.
Layton sighed quietly. "OK. And I was happy to be your 'ally'. And I'm happy to be your 'ally' any time you need one."
Melanie gave him a small smile in the darkness. "Goodnight, Layton."
Layton returned her smile. "Goodnight, Melanie."