Disclaimer: See chapter one.
Melinda walks down the hall to the nurses' station. She places a file in it's place and clocks out. She walks back down the hall toward the elevator. She pushes the down button to go to the parking garage. When the door opens, she steps forward to enter and runs into a doctor stepping out of it.
"Oh, I'm sorry," Melinda says, not looking up.
The doctor laughs, "That's alright, Melinda."
Melinda looks up and blushes, "Brett! I'm sorry, I didn't notice you."
Brett continues to laugh, "That's alright. Going home?"
Melinda nods, "My shift just ended."
"Would you like a ride home?" he asks, stepping aside to let her enter the elevator.
She smiles and walks in, "But your shift isn't over yet, is it?"
The door shuts and he turns to fully face her, "I'm on call."
Melinda smiles and leans back against the elevator wall. He walks closer to her, towering over her by at least a foot and a half. She looks up at him and takes in a deep breath.
"You left without waking me this morning," he said, fixing the lapel on her jacket.
She sighs, "Well, I had to get to class."
"I would have taken you," he tells her, resting his hand on her cheek.
"I'm sorry, Brett," she says.
He smiles and kisses her forehead, "It's alright, honey." He pulls her into his arms, "What do you want to do for dinner tonight?"
She mumbles against his chest, "Anything."
He smiles, "Chinese?"
She nods and the elevator opens to the parking garage. They step apart from each other, but take each other's hand to walk to his car. He opens the door for her and helps her in, then shutting the door.
After she fastens her seat belt, she takes her phone out of her pocket. She turns it on as Brett gets in the car. The phone beeps, notifying Melinda of a new message. She presses the voicemail button and raises the phone to her ear to listen to the message, smiling as she listens.
When she finishes, Brett asks, "Who was that, love?"
Melinda turns to face him, "Phoenix is coming home."
"Phoenix? Phoenix, your cousin?" he asks, still keeping his attention on the road.
Melinda nods, "She's being transferred to her law firm's branch here and getting a promotion."
"Well, that's good. Right?" he asks her.
She shrugs her shoulders and slightly nods, "More or less."
"Meaning?" he asks, turning his head to look at her after stopping at a stoplight.
"Well…" Melinda takes a deep breath, "She hasn't been home since graduating high school. She hasn't even spoken to anyone here except for me since than, other than an occasional letter to her mom."
"I guess that could be a problem," he says, continuing down the street.
"I hope not," Melinda says thoughtfully.
"Didn't we go visit her while we were in Santa Monica for that conference this last summer?" Brett remembers vaguely.
Melinda nods, "A-huh."
"She's nice," he remarks. "Is she seeing anyone?"
Melinda scowls at him, "No, but you are!"
Brett slightly laughs, "I wasn't thinking about myself. I was thinking about Brycen."
Melinda smiles at him and shrugs, "I wouldn't know. I mean, I told you about what happened to her when she moved to L.A. She hasn't really been with anyone since then."
"That guy really hurt her, didn't he?" he asks, turning the corner.
"Let's just say, he's lucky I haven't seen him since then," she tells him matter-of-factly.
Brett turns into their driveway and turns off the car, turning to face her, "Remind me never to hurt you."
She smiles brightly, "Yes, sir."
They walk into their house holding hands. Walking into the living room, Melinda sits on the couch and Brett walks to the phone.
"What do you want?" he asks.
Melinda inhales deeply and thinks, "Um, chicken lo mein and a side of rice."
He nods and proceeds to dial. Melinda pulls out her phone and dials her other cousin's number.
Paige walks into the house as the phone was ringing. She picks it up and sets down her briefcase, "Hello?"
"Aunt Paige," Paige hears Melinda's voice through the phone. "Is Raven home?"
Paige turns to walk toward Raven's room, "I don't know, honey. Hold on." She knocks on the door and opens it.
Raven looks up from her desk, "Hey, mom."
Paige holds the phone to her, "It's Melinda."
Raven takes the phone from Paige and Paige leaves the room.
"Hello," Raven answers.
"Hey, Raven. Listen, Phoenix is moving back. Are you free tomorrow morning?" Melinda asks her.
Raven nods, "Well, I don't have classes tomorrow. Why? What are we gonna do?"
"I was thinking we could help Phoenix move in," Melinda suggested.
"Sounds good," Raven smiles.
Melinda continues, "I don't know where her place is yet, but I'm going to see if I can get a hold of her before she leaves. I'll let you know, ok?"
Raven nods again, "Ok. Thanks, Meli."
"Oh, one more thing! You can't tell anyone she's back. It's a surprise."
"Oh, ok. You can trust me," Raven assures her.
"I know I can," Melinda acknowledges, "I'll see you tomorrow."
"Bye," Raven said, waiting for Melinda to hang up before she does.
Raven stands up and leaves her room to hang up the phone. Paige is sitting on the couch looking over a file.
"What did Melinda want, honey?" Paige asks her daughter.
"Oh, nothing really," Raven tells her. "She just invited me to go have breakfast with her in the morning."
"That's good. Hey, Maybe Piper and Phoebe and I could come too," Paige suggests.
"Um," Raven slowly responds, "Melinda just wanted it to be her and me. We haven't seen each other that much lately."
"Oh, alright," Paige relented.
Raven yawned, "Well, I need to finish my math lesson."
Paige nods, "Ok. Dinner's in the oven. I'll call you out when it's finished cooking."
"Ok," Raven says before entering her room and shutting the door.
