A/N: This time, folks, I have something important to impart to you. Something that actually started back in chapter 22 that you may have missed.
And I know this is a bit confusing, and looking back I would have changed how this played out in the story arc. But keep in mind what you are reading is, by the beginning of chapter 22, happening in the past. This story arc started with Melanie in their cabin, in bed, sans one Layton (and quite miserable about it).
Basically after Layton meets with Bennett in the engine room is where you are actually 'catching up' to real time.
Confused? I doubt you're alone.
But bear with me. If you've been able to follow this in it's correct time frame, gold star (*) for you. Personally, I had to make a lot of notes along the way to keep myself straight.
Chapter 24 - AND THEN THE ENGINE HAD ENOUGH (or It's Like 'The Parent Trap', But On A Train)
The next morning Layton got up and, getting dressed in the best of what he had with him, began his day.
For the most part he avoided going anywhere near the engine room, not sure if Melanie had managed to cool off any since the previous night. But he knew from experience that it usually took her a good 24 hours before she was ready to sit down and talk anything out. Though this fight had been a bit more volatile than their usual ones, so he decided to give her as much time as he could.
That night, with a certain amount of caution, he entered the council room. He made a point to come a few minutes late to make sure everyone would be there already. Glancing around the room, he quickly noticed the one chair he was most interested in was empty. That told him most of what he needed to know.
She was still angry and was still apparently not ready to talk to him.
Trying to keep things looking normal, Layton began the meeting.
Afterwards, he made his way back to the Night Car and once again settled into his room. Although it was late, Ms. Audrey brought him something to eat, stating he wasn't going to just sit in his room and starve. He knew she was just trying to be kind, as she always was with him. But he hated to admit the gesture only made him more miserable than he already was. The gesture was so reminiscent of something Melanie would have done for him, it just made him miss being in their cabin all the more.
For the next two nights Layton watched for her to show up. But each night her seat remained empty. None of the other council members showed much concern over her absence as she was known to miss several meetings in a row when something was going on in the engine, which they all assumed was the reason for her absence. Layton half wished Knox was part of the council, as the second engineer would be his best source of information on where things stood. But the council only required one engineer to be present, and that duty fell to the first engineer. He supposed he could have gone to Knox's cabin himself to try and glean some information on where things stood, but always decided instead it was best to just let things lie for now.
To Layton's utter surprise, on the third night he walked into the council room to find Melanie's chair no longer empty. Sitting at the table, appearing to study some notes in front of her, Melanie took no notice of his entrance, and for the most part seemed to completely ignore his presence.
But it wasn't anything about her actions that caught his attention. It was how she looked. For the most part, he thought she appeared about as tired and worn out as he felt these past few days.
He wondered how things were for her. Was she eating the same now that he wasn't there? Or had she reverted back to her old habit of just grabbing something to eat where and when she could find a moment, and usually skipping eating before she went to bed altogether?
What did she do before she went to sleep each night now that he wasn't there to talk to?
Was she sleeping all right?
Was she still stealing all the blankets over to her side of the bed?
Layton paused in his thoughts, then quickly shook them off. There was no point in pursuing that train of thought. Doing so just depressed him more and made him miss all the things he lost when he walked out the door of their cabin.
Thoughts that just made him miss her all the more.
But even as he walked around the table opposite where she sat and stood at his place at the table, looking over his notes, his thoughts slowly slid back to the previous subject. What had she been up to in the engine room lately? She had mentioned some upgrades she was going to look into. Had she moved forward with that project? Was her engine behaving itself, or was it keeping her up until 3AM again without him there to call her on it?
The thought of some of the things he had called that engine for what he felt was its mistreatment of her and his suggestions to her of how to respond to said actions caused a small smile to creep over his lips. He looked up at just that moment, his gaze inadvertently finding her's.
He had hoped that just maybe she would smile back. But the instant she met his eyes, she dropped her head back down and returned to studying her notes.
One of the people sitting next to her leaned over and whispered something to her. Melanie turned to the man and gave him a smile and answered him with that same pleasant smile on her lips.
Layton frowned at the whole exchange.
She could spare a smile for a practical stranger, but not for him?
More irritated than he knew he should be at the exchange, he grabbed the small gavel off the table in front of him and banged it on the table loud enough to make several people jump in their chairs.
As though realizing his over-reaction, Layton set the gavel back down and took his seat as though nothing out of the ordinary had happened.
"The meeting is called to order." He stated in a calm, normal tone. "So let's begin."
From there the meeting progressed fairly smoothly. There weren't as many 'disagreements' around the table as there usually were. Several times he looked up from his own note taking to notice several council members watching him. For the most part he ignored them. But getting lost in his thoughts again, a few times someone on the council called his name to get his attention regarding a matter put to him. He would quickly apologize, complain of a busy, distracting day, and the meeting would go on. Swearing he would keep better focus, his thoughts would immediately take a U-turn and return to the situation occupying so much space in his brain at the moment.
But for the most part, he congratulated himself for keeping his stare focused anywhere but on her. She had slapped his smile back at him once, and he was determined that was the only chance she was going to get.
But the whole evening had proven exactly one thing to him. They needed to settle this between them. It wasn't behooving either one of them that they keep acting like they hardly knew each other. It wasn't only deterring his ability to function, but in the long run he felt it would prove detrimental to the overall functioning of the train.
They needed to be in this together. The train needed both of them. And it didn't need them fighting.
And so as the meeting went on, he resolved that at the end of it he would ask her to stay while the others left the room, and neither one of them were going to leave until the matter was settled. Even if it took all night.
But just as he always suspected of the woman, it seemed Melanie was three steps ahead of his plans. Nearing the end of the meeting, Layton's attention was drawn to her when she suddenly stood up from her chair.
"My apologies to the Chancellor and the other members of the council." She stated formally, looking around the table and only glancing over his place. "But I have some testes in the engine that can't wait."
And with a quick nod to the room, she stepped away from her chair and left.
Layton frowned at his plans being so easily usurped. But turning back to those still seated around the table, he quickly noted their questioning stares at his expression. Altering it to a more passive one, he turned back to the business at hand.
"Shall we continue?" He stated.
There was a slight murmuring around the room, but the meeting eventually got back on track.
By the time the meeting ended, Layton decided one way or the other, he had had enough. If going to the engine room and trapping her there was what it took, then that was what it was going to be.
Heading for the front of the train, Layton built up his resolve with every step. He had his argument solidly laid out and felt he could counter any resistance she put up. But as soon as he entered the control room, he found himself stopped by Knox, who was out of the helm seat and blocking his path within seconds.
"Don't get involved in this, Bennett." Layton warned the man.
With a hand solidly on the man's chest, Knox stared him down. "You forget. I already am. And her feelings on your being here were very clear."
"I'm just going to talk to her."
"Not tonight."
The two stood in their silent stand off for a few moments, until Layton noted the stares they were starting to attract and backed down.
But Bennett wasn't about to let Layton go without something for his trouble.
"Look," he stated, "this is how she is. We both know that. Now, I don't know the whole story here. She hasn't said much other than she didn't want you in the engine room ever again."
"Ever again?" Layton cut him off with raised eyebrows.
Bennett sighed. Shoving the man back a few steps, he dragged him around the corner of the entrance to the engine room. "Listen," he stated quietly to him, "I'm on your side in this. I don't even know what you DID, and I'm on your side. I want this resolved as much as you do. Because currently she's moody, snaps at every little thing anyone does, she's as distracted as I've ever seen her, and she hardly says a word to anyone. But mostly she's worn herself far too thin. We've had one incident in the engine already that I know was because she wasn't paying attention."
"Incident?!" Layton's senses suddenly perked up. "Was she hurt?"
"Minor burn." Bennett explained. "But she's not getting better about things. I doubt she sleeps three hours a night and I hardly ever see her eat anything. All of that adds up to a distracted, unhappy Melanie. And a distracted, unhappy Melanie is not good for the train."
"Then let me talk to her." Layton said.
But Bennett shook his head. "She's just not ready to talk yet." He stated. "You try now and you're just going to push her further away. Just give her a little more time. Because personally I don't think either one of you is going to be able to keep this up much longer."
"Meaning?"
Bennett gave him a light slap to the shoulder. "Have you looked in a mirror lately?"
Layton shook his head with a slight smile in return. "You try sleeping in the Night Car. Let me know how that works for you."
"Just give her a little more time." Bennett advised again. "She'll get there."
For the next two nights, Layton stuck by Bennett's advice. He didn't try to push her or corner her on the matter. He basically left her alone. But after the third council meeting where she failed to show up again, Layton reverted to his original plan. If she showed up that night, he was going to make sure she stayed to the end of the meeting if he had to tie her in her chair. And when everyone had left, they were going to put and end to this.
But even in her absence Melanie managed to upset his plans once again. For the third night in a row, her chair remained empty.
Layton barely made it through the meeting, wondering what to do now. She wasn't just avoiding him at this point, in his opinion. She was totally shutting him out.
Maybe she had just reverted to her old way of living, he told himself. Grown comfortable again with living alone. Maybe he seriously needed to start looking for somewhere else to live now.
But that night seemed to be the night that the train itself had had enough of their silent stand off.
As the meeting began to wrap up, it was abruptly disrupted by the sound of an alarm. The warning wasn't going off in the council room itself. But due to its close proximity to the engine room, any warnings from there sounded like they easily could have been blaring from a speaker on any given wall.
"Attention!" The warning blared out. "Engine malfunction! Forward engine. Repeat. Engine malfunction! Forward engine."
It didn't take Layton's sleep deprived brain one second to grab onto one specific piece of information in the announcement.
Forward engine.
That was where Melanie would be working!
Forgetting everything else, he turned and bolted out of the room, not caring who or what was in his way. All that mattered to him was getting to the engine and making sure she was alright. But the minute he entered the engine room all his hopes of this just being some minor event vanish up in the smoke that the room was draped in. People were running everywhere it seemed, trying to contain whatever the damage was and make sure everyone in the area was accounted for.
However, one sound was the only thing his senses focused in on.
A shout for people to get out of the way.
Pushing through the crowd, Layton was nearly knocked over by Bennett, who was barreling through the crowd of people like a steamroller. In his arms Melanie was curled up, her hands over her face as she whimpered in pain.
Layton grabbed the man by the arm to stop him.
"Knox!"
But the man all but ignored him as he solidly shook off the hold and hurried out of the room.
Falling into his wake, Layton rushed after him, determined not to loose the man in his headlong rush through the train.
The team in the medical car was already alerted to the emergency and were waiting for Knox when he arrived. They took Melanie from his arms, but then just a quickly stopped him when he tried to follow them past the doors to the exam room.
"We'll let you know." Was all he was given before the door shut in his face.
Sighing quietly as he let his head drop, Knox headed over to one of the chairs in the outer room and sat down. Joining him, Layton sat quietly next to him for a moment.
"What happened?" He finally asked.
Knox shook his head slightly. "Not sure." He said in barely a whisper. "She was working on the fuel cell chargers. We think one of them discharged unexpectedly. That disrupted the power supply to the engines and caused the alarm." The man paused for a few moments as he choked down his emotions again. "From what I could tell, she was standing directly in front of the cell when it discharged."
"How bad is that?" Layton asked quietly, afraid of the answer.
"If it was a full charge, very bad. From the look of things, she was leaned over the cell when the explosion happened, so she took the charge full to the face. She could be burned. She could be blind. She could have gotten some of the chemicals from the cell discharge into her lungs." Bennett turned a worried look to him. "Over all, I'm surprised she's even still alive, or at the very least, conscious."
Layton silently watched the man as he turned back to the floor in front of him.
"She'll be all right." He finally said. "She's just to darned stubborn to be anything else."
It wasn't until early in the morning hours that things in the medical car finally settled down.
They had allowed Bennett back to see her first. She was groggy from the pain medicine they had given her, and she could barely talk. But what worried him the most were the two large gauze bandages that covered her eyes. All that they could tell him at that point was that her eyes had been damaged in the blast, but they weren't sure as to how badly yet. For the time being they had flushed any of the chemical residue out of her eyes and now they were going to let the eyes rest and heal as much as they could on their own. They were searching the train for a specialist, but as yet none had been found.
After staying with her for a short time, Melanie had sent Bennett back to his cabin to get some rest, stating she would ban him from her room if he didn't get some sleep.
Layton stood in the waiting area, watching the worn looking Knox leave the room. He laid a hand on the man's shoulder as he walked past.
"I'll stay until she throws me out as well." He told him quietly. "And I'll let you know if there's any problems."
Knox gave him a tired nod and left back to his cabin.
Waiting a few minutes, Layton finally quietly entered the room. It was only lit by a small, soft light on the wall next to her bed.
Walking over to her, he thought she looked like she had fallen asleep. Maybe they had given her something to help her get some rest.
Staring down at her he felt a tightness grip in his chest. How close had he come to losing her today?
Reaching out, he gently laid his hand over her's, then carefully wrapped his fingers about her hand. He tried to be as careful and gentle as he could as that her hands were partially wrapped in a gauze covering from burns.
To his surprise, she mimicked his movements, slowly moving her fingers until they circled around his.
He gave her hand a soft squeeze. "Hi." He whispered to her.
The smallest smile answered him. "Hi." A scratched and barely audible whisper answered him.
"So," he said quietly, trying hard to keep his fear and emotions in check as not to alarm her, "I guess the engine was very bad today."
A slight nod answered him. He figured talking was hard for her, so he tried to give her only questions that she could answer with a nod or shake of her head.
He managed a small smile, even though she couldn't see it. "You know they likely spiked something they gave you to eat or drink so you would sleep."
She gave a tired nod.
"So go to sleep." He whispered to her, giving her a light kiss on the forehead.
"I miss your reading to me." She barely whispered the words.
Layton pulled a chair in the room closer to her bed. "Well, I don't have that wonderful book you enjoy so much with me."
She actually managed a small laugh for him, squeezing his hand a little tighter in her's.
"But I think I can manage something." Layton sat thinking for a moment. "Ok. Once upon a time...,"
"A fairy tale?" Came the whispered question.
"It's all I know. Take it or leave it." He lightly chide her.
Melanie sighed and settled back in the bed again. But she kept as firm a grip as she could on his hand, clutching it to her chest as she wrapped her other one about it.
"All settled?" Layton asked her.
Melanie nodded.
"OK. So, once upon a time...," Layton began again.
He picked one of the stories his grandmother used to tell him. It wasn't your standard version of the tale. His grandmother was a colorful character in his youth, and use to mix the stories with bits and pieces she made up herself. A few times Melanie laughed softly at the additions, but eventually Layton noted that she stop giving any reaction and the grip on his hand wasn't as tight anymore. Looking up with a touch of alarm, he quickly noted that her chest was rising and falling in a steady rhythm.
"And they all lived happily ever after." He whispered to her.
At first he thought to simply let her sleep and go back to the Night Car. But as he sat watching her, watching for each rise and fall of her chest, he realized he wouldn't get a moments sleep back in his room.
Pulling the chair a little closer and making a few adjustments in his position, he carefully laid his head down on the mattress next to her.
For the first time in a week, Layton found himself drifting off to sleep within a matter of minutes.