Chapter 8 - Truth

The next morning, Melody woke up and wondered just what she had gotten into. First, I am trying to get my ex and our boss together. I guess that both my mother AND Radek's mother will hate me forever since this means that we would never get back together.

As she crawled out of bed and made it behind her, she continued her evaluation. Second, I am flirting like mad with my direct supervisor. That is definitely something that is NOT advised in the handbook. What exactly happened last night? Mel remembered that she sent Elizabeth to Radek's lab, and then she met up with Carson. Had he been following her and Elizabeth? Or just happened upon them?

While thinking on the shower, Mel continued to think over last night. Nothing had happened after Carson asked his little 'Do ye want me to?' question. In fact, Mel had mumbled something stupid and escaped as quickly as possible. She kicked herself mentally. Yeah, really good example I am. I'm pushing other people into something, and then I chicken out when faced with the same prospect. She placed her hands on the wall of the shower and lightly began to beat her forehead against the wall. Good God, I AM thick as a brick!

Just after Mel had finished dressing, her door chimed. She hit the controls, and saw Radek on the other side of the door.

"Are you busy?" He had a rather anxious look on his face.

"For you? Never." Mel led the way over to her small living room. "How did it go with Elizabeth last night?"

Radek blushed. "You are a very evil woman. But your intuition was right about my feelings for Elizabeth. And you were right about how Elizabeth felt about me. But that is not why I came here."

"Why did you come?" Mel was bewildered and it showed in her voice.

Radek leaned closer with his hands clasped in front of him. "I received a call earlier this morning from Carson Beckett."

"Oh." Mel got up and began to tidy her quarters as her nerves began to jangle.

"Is there something going on that I should know about?" Radek just watched Melody as she began to fret and fuss with her already neat quarters.

"I don't know! I..." Mel turned toward Radek and the tears began to spill from her eyes.

Radek was off the couch and holding Melody in a few seconds, murmuring words of comfort in Czech as he swayed with her in a bear hug. "Humr, what is the matter?"

Mel leaded back in his arms and swiped at the tears on her face. "It just seems so much harder this time."

"What do you mean?" Radek asked gently.

Mel smiled bitterly and the tears threatened to return. "When we got together, it was just so easy. We both just kind of fell into it."

Radek pulled her close and kissed her forehead. "And we both just kind of fell out of it too."

They stood there for quite some time, just holding each other. Finally, Mel pulled her face from Radek's shoulder and went forehead to forehead with him. "I'm terrified of going for it this time. Back when I was still on Earth, Carson Beckett was an abstraction, a doctor who was doing great things in the Pegasus Galaxy. I got here and I was attracted to him as a man, the blue eyes, dimples and Scottish accent got me first. Now I've known him for a month and I see him for who he really is. He is an amazing doctor and geneticist who has a tender heart that is broken on a regular basis when the people under his care are injured or worse. He is incredibly smart and funny and has the complete respect of everyone in this city."

Radek smiled. "It sounds to me like you're in love with the man."

Mel sniffed slightly. "I guess I am." She and Radek stood looking at each other for another minute before either made any move. She gently kissed him on the cheek. "Thank you so much."

Radek smiled as he reciprocated the kiss. "You are so very welcome. What are you going to do now?"

Melody made an expansive gesture with her left hand. "I guess I should go and find Carson and do something."

"I think he had this morning off and was planning on walking the South Pier."

Mel narrowed her eyes and scowled. "You checked up on his schedule before you came here!"

Radek chuckled and shrugged. "So what if I did? Go and find the man. He was rather confused by your running away last night. He was worried that he had hurt you somehow."

Mel looked frantically for a moment, and found the jacket she was looking for was hiding under some clothes on her desk chair. "You can see yourself out?" She didn't even wait for Radek to answer before she shot out of the door.

Radek smiled and laughed to himself as he left Melody's quarters. It was almost lunch time, and he had a date with Elizabeth.