A/N: Yes. I get bored every now and then, which is my explanation for why you are getting your chapter numbers in different languages.
This story arc actually wraps up A NEW ORDER. And this story arc serves exactly one purpose, folks. It is to clearly lay out the relationship between Melanie and Layton. And believe me, in my AU, it is extremely complicated. But Layton and Melanie have come to a point that they realize they need to clarify where those lines are.
Chapter 36 - Changes
Primera Parte
For the next three weeks Melanie's sight slowly kept improving a little every day. Layton made sure she remained faithful to her appointments, even though now with her eyesight improving, she had begun to revert to her old ways of dealing with anything that kept her away from her beloved engine.
"He doesn't DO anything!" She stated as he reminded her on the way out of the cabin one morning to be sure to stop by and see Dr. Castillio that afternoon during her lunch break. "He just looks at my eyes, pats me on my head, tells me I'm doing fine, and sends me on my way. It takes...three minutes."
"If it helps you recover your sight completely, then I'd say it's the best spent three minutes of your day. So tell me you'll keep the appointment."
Since they had begun sharing the cabin, this had been a standard rule between them. If you told the other person you were going to do something, you did it. For Layton, it had been a trust building exercise for Melanie. But he also used it to get her to keep appointments, go to council meetings when he specifically needed to her to attend, or make sure she didn't spend all night in the engine.
Melanie rubbed her hand over the back of her neck as she glanced at the clock by the door. She simply didn't have time to argue this out with him this morning or she would risk running late. If there was a free subtrain she could still get to the main engine room in time.
"Fine." She stated in exasperation. "I'll go get patted on the head."
"I heard if you're nice they'll give you a lollipop."
Melanie deeply regretted not having one thing in her hands she could do without that day or she would have gladly thrown it at him.
Melanie was grateful the rest of the day was fairly uneventful. When she arrived back at the cabin that night, Layton was already cooking something that had her stomach growling the moment she stepped through the door.
As they sat at the table, Layton asked her about her day, focusing on one event in particularly.
"Did you go see Dr. Castillio?"
"I did." Came the short answer.
"And?"
"He said everything was coming along fine. In another week or two my eyes should be totally healed."
Layton studied her for a moment. Each night when they had dinner, it was usually his first question to her, if he needed to even ask her. She was always more than willing to share every detail of her visits to the doctor, happily letting him know how things were progressing. When she had first been allowed to go without the bandages over her eyes during the day, she spent most of the evening going over in detail everything she had been able to do that day that had been off limits over the past several weeks.
But this evening she gave the whole matter as much attention as discussing the weather outside.
Layton took a stab at the pasta in his bowl as he turned his eyes to her. "That's it?"
Melanie looked up at him. "What do you mean?"
"Well, that's some pretty big news on this side of the table. Care to tell me why you aren't more excited?"
Melanie moved a few pieces of the pasta around her bowl with her fork as she turned back to it. "It's nothing."
Layton studied her again. "Is something up between you and Knox? Do I need to go have a talk with your pseudo- relationship?"
Melanie gave a small laugh, shaking her head slightly. "No. This has nothing to do with Bennett and we aren't fighting."
Layton latched onto one particular part of the answer. "So there is something?"
Melanie sighed as she picked up some pasta with her fork and turned to him. "It's just been a long day, Layton." She replied. "Stop trying to see something that isn't there."
The rest of the meal was mostly just small talk. Since she wasn't inclined to say much more about her day, Layton filled her in on his instead. Once they were finished eating, they shared the clean up tasks and finally made their way off to bed.
The night progressed like any other from Layton's view. By midnight he was happily snuggled up to his favorite extra blanket, as he had taken to referring to her as, while she peacefully snored away with her back to him.
Around one in the morning, Layton was glad to have had a preliminary hold on her body when the cabin suddenly gave a large shudder that nearly threw Melanie over her side of the bed.
Grabbing her around the waist, Layton quickly pulled them both back toward the middle of the bed with one arm while he firmly latched onto the headboard with his other hand for stability.
But no sooner had the shaking stopped then Melanie was out of the bed, rapidly shedding the thermals and grabbing for her engineer's uniform slung over one of the chairs in the room.
"What was that?" Layton asked, already out of the bed himself and echoing her actions.
"Something is wrong. We're slowing down." Was as far as Melanie got before a second shudder hit the cabin.
Already racing for her when he felt the second wave building, Layton had hold of her and took her to the ground before the strongest part of the surge hit the train, safely holding her there as the cabin shook violently.
As soon as the car settled again, Melanie was back on her feet.
"Something is very, very wrong!" She stated this time, rushing to get dressed with Layton just seconds behind her.
As each of them sat on the edge of the bed, pulling on their boots, the train gave one more shudder, though much less violent than the two previous ones.
Sitting still on the bed, the rooms two occupants sat in stone silence as they listened to the sounds of the train around them.
At first there was nothing. Then a loud creaking could be heard, followed again by silence.
"Was is that?" Layton asked in a quiet voice.
Melanie was all but trembling as she listened, already knowing the answer, as well as knowing what it meant for her beloved train and its precious cargo.
She turned back to Layton. Wide, frightened eyes staring at him in the semi-darkness.
"We've stopped." She whispered.
