Chapter 5

Barney's POV

I jumped in the car as soon as Lee told me what'd happened with Melanie. I called Toll and he got the guys out looking for Mel, Lee had even gone back and asked Taylor for her help; she said she would.

Lee and Taylor were covering her area and the river, while the guys and I made search patterns around the city.

"Melanie, what are you doing?" I asked aloud as I sat at a red light.

On green I moved on to search the next block giving special attention to parks and bridges.

Toll's POV

We had all tried calling Melanie but her phone was off, I'm sure the other guys left messages of their own but I left one anyway.

I drove towards the library, Melanie often loved to read books especially when she wanted to escape what's going on in the real world, I hoped she was there.

"We can't lose her too." I said to myself as the library came into view over the bridge, I looked more closely at the bridge in case she was on it somewhere but nothing.

It was getting dark, I knew we wouldn't give up until we found her but the darkness sure didn't help us.

I pulled into the library parking lot and hurried inside.

"Toll, what are you doing here?" asked Henry from behind the counter.

"I'm looking for Melanie, have you seen her?" I replied looking around.

"No, sorry I haven't. If I do I'll let you know." he said.

"Thanks." I told him and hurried back outside.

Someone was sitting in my car, I crept around to the passenger side and knocked on the window. The figure rose its head and turned to me; it was Melanie.

I hurried around to my side of the car and got in the driver's seat looking Melanie over.

"Melanie, are you hurt?" I asked alarmed, cupping her head in my hands.

"Nah man, I'm feeling good."she replied smiling like crazy;she was drunk.

"Melanie! What's wrong with you?"I asked angrily and left go of her head.

"Nothing, I just feel so good. Can we go shoot some pool?"she answered and bounced on the seat like a little kid excited to go for a ride.

"No, I'm taking you to Lee's place."I told her and put the car in gear heading for the road.

"You're no fun, Toll,come on we should all have drinks at Lee's and just let loose!"she said excitedly and turned up the radio, I turned it off.

"No, and leave the radio off. I need to call the guys."I said and took out my phone.

"I've got her,meet me at Lee's."I said when Barney picked up.

"Good work Toll, we'll be there."he said and hung up as did I.

Melanie turned on the radio again but kept it at a moderate level,

"It's nice to just forget everything for a few hours and just get drunk to actually live."she said, now she wasn't making sense.

I shook my head, "What happened to you?"I muttered.

"I've been drinking for four or five hours and I'm really drunk right now." she answered and turned up the radio before she started singing along to a song called, "Bottoms Up."

I drove a little faster, now I knew what kind of drunk Mel was; an annoying one.

Melanie's POV

I could see that Toll was super annoyed by me but I didn't really care, for the first time since I got home I was happy.

I turned down the radio after the song ended but I was bored, sure I was buzzed like there was no tomorrow, though there was no point if I had nothing to do with the energy.

Toll pulled into Lee's a short while later and I rushed inside with an idea of what I could do with all this energy;bake.

In the kitchen I grabbed a bowl,measuring cups and spoons, and a muffin tray before searching for the ingridients.

"Mel, what are you doing?"Toll asked as he leaned against the pantry door.

"I'm making cupcakes, can you check what icing we have in there?"I said as I took the eggs out of the fridge.

He opened the door and looked up and down, "Red, white and blue."he told me.

"Sounds good."I said preheating the oven before I started mixing everything together.

The guys and Taylor came in as I was mixing, they all looked at me confused.

"She's making cupcakes."Toll explained to them as I turned off the mixer.

"Would you like some help?"Taylor offered,

"I think I can handle this doc."I replied scooping out the batter into the cups as they sat around the table, Lee came over to me.

"Are you alright?"he asked me as I put the cupcakes in the oven.

"Yes, I'm perfectly fine."I said and wobbled a little when I closed the oven door. "Maybe I'm a little drunk."I said and giggled at that because I wasn't a little drunk, I was really drunk!

Lee scowled as I set the timer and he brought me over to the table.

Lee's POV

"Where did you go?"I asked her, she was becoming pretty unpredictable lately and she was changing; I didn't like it at all.

She smirked, "Joey's."she said smoothly like she'd been there a hundred times before.

"Why did you do it Mel? Too much pressure?"Barney asked her, giving her a steady stare.

Melanie jumped up from her chair, her normally kind and caring eyes flashing with anger.

"I did it so I wouldn't have to feel anymore!" she yelled, and continued to shout.

"None of you know what it was like for me then, and you don't know how I'm feeling now! So stop trying to get me to feel, turn on or let my feelings in because it would destroy me!"she finished and banged the table with her fist.

I grabbed her forearms and turned her to face me, "Maybe not but Mel you're not living your life like you're supposed too. It hurts I know, it hurts so bad you may even want to just die, I felt that way before but thinking of you and the team."I paused for a breath and continued.

"That's what got me to keep going, deal with my emotions and move on. You need to do that too, let your emotions go and move on, so you can live your life again."I finished but it didn't look like it sank in since she still looked angry.

"Let me point it this way; you've changed a lot Mel, you're not the woman I asked to be my girlfriend, you're not the woman Barney welcomed onto the team, and you're not the woman that I love."I told her, completely serious.

She jerked one hand free to cover her mouth for a minute before moving it. "You're not serious."she said in a drunk tone.

"I'm completely serious, come morning you'll see."I told her and headed upstairs.

Barney's POV

The room was quiet for a few moments as we all took in what had just happened. The timer sounded and Mel moved to turn it off and turn the cupcakes before setting the timer again.

"Why don't you guys head home?" Taylor asked the team and explained. "Barney and I will stay with Melanie."

The team didn't argue, they got up and left without a word, the only sound was their cars driving off down the road.

Melanie left the kitchen and went to another room in the house so it was just me and Taylor.

"She's pushed him too far, and now she's going to lose him."I said.

Taylor nodded, "Yes she is, but sometimes to get someone back to the way they were, you have to take away what they value most so they'll fight to get it back."she said in explanation.

"Yeah, if it doesn't break them apart for good first."I said and got up for a drink.

I took a coke from the fridge, "Can I get you something?"I asked her.

"No, I'm alright, thanks."she replied.I sat back down and opened the can taking a big mouthful.

"Lee and Melanie are both strong, they'll be okay."Taylor said but I didn't find it to be too much comfort.

The timer went off, she got up and took care of it when Melanie didn't come within a few minutes, I went to look for her.

Melanie was in the office passed out on the couch, with a blanket wrapped around her. I put another blanket at the foot of the couch in case she got cold but by the looks of it she'd asleep for a while.

I returned to the kitchen, Lee sat at the table with Taylor.

"Hey."I greeted, and sat next to Lee, across from Taylor.

Lee nodded, "Mel's passed out in the office on the couch."I informed them.

"That's good, she's had quite the day."Taylor commented.

Lee's POV

The only reason I came downstairs was to get a drink, Taylor asked me to stay so I did and now no one's talking.

"I'm going to bed, you two can do whatever you want."I told them getting up.

"I'm going to finish the cupcakes for Mel and then I'll head home."Taylor told me, while Barney nodded.

I nodded and went upstairs, 'Tomorrow is another day, but it's gonna be a rough one.'I thought as I went in the bedroom for the night.

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