Please enjoy this next chapter.

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters or quotes from Grey's Anatomy, nor do I own the lyrics to Brooks & Dunn's song Cowgirls Don't Cry.

Chapter 14- Cowgirls Don't Cry

Cowgirls don't cry
Ride, baby, ride
Lessons of life are going to show you in time
Soon enough your gonna know why
It's gonna hurt every now and then
If you fall get back on again

Hannah and Erin stood outside of the on-call room where Melanie had isolated herself. After she had broke down in the ambulance bay, she collected herself only enough to give Dr. Reilly the information he needed before they rushed Kathleen into surgery, to attempt to call her step-father, who was apparently too busy to answer his phone, and to tell her friends she wanted to be alone. They had both tried to go in to comfort her, only to be immediately rebuffed.

"I don't know what to do," Hannah stated. "This isn't healthy. She should want someone there with her."

Erin sighed, "She could be handling it worse. I've known Mel for a while. She just doesn't like to let people see her cry."

"Meyer," Clark shouted, rushing towards the pair. "Where's Mel? I heard about her mom."

"She's in the on-call room, but she's not going to want to see you," Erin replied.

Clark stuttered, "She needs someone and of the three of us I've known her the longest. Until their fight, Mel and Mrs. Starski were closer than any other mother daughter pair I'd ever seen."

Erin squirmed for a moment but Hannah took over, "Clark, I agree she needs someone. You just aren't that someone. The last thing she needs is more drama from you. You should be ashamed that you're using this to try and get back with her." Clark looked down at his feet. Klein had hit the nail on the head. "I'm right aren't I? Go do your actual job. We'll take care of Mel as best as she'll let us."

"Ok," Clark said, admitting defeat before leaving as quickly as he came.

"Good save Hannah," Erin said.

They kept outside the door, working on charts. They were interrupted again, "Meyer, Klein, what are you two doing here?" asked Alex in a harsh voice. "And where is Mel?"

"We're guarding the door for her sir," Hannah muttered. "She wants to be left alone or we'd be in there with her."

"Ok," Alex replied to his daughter's friends. "Meyer, I need you to go to OR 2 and watch the fetal monitor. They have some nurse doing it, but it's a high risk pregnancy and I'd feel better if someone more specialized was doing it."

"Yes Dr. Karev," Erin answered before going to the elevator.

"I'm not leaving sir," Hannah said defiantly. "She needs someone here in case she changes her mind."

"Fine," Alex responded. "I'm going inside. You can sit out here as long as you want or can." Alex slowly opened the door and heard his daughter's muffled tears.

"I told you guys, I want to be alone," Mel sobbed.

Alex spoke up, "Melly. It's me."

"Dad?" she said in a confused voice, lifting her head off the pillow. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm here for you," he replied. "Do you think I could leave my little girl alone right now?" He walked over towards the bunk.

"You should be in surgery," she mumbled.

"It got canceled. They needed the OR," he replied.

"Not that surgery," she whispered. She was trying to get her tears under control. "Why aren't you with mom?"

"I have an intern watching the monitor. She'll be fine," he assured.

Mel stopped her crying to look her father straight into the eyes. "You and I both know she could lose the baby at any moment. Who do you have watching the monitor?"

"Meyer," he answered.

"She's good, but if Mom starts to go into labor, Eir won't be able to stop it. She's not you," she argued.

"Katie would want me to put her child first," he began. "So that's what I'm doing, she would want me to make sure you're all right. Not to sound cruel but losing the baby won't kill her."

"No," Mel responded. "She'll only wish it had. That baby means everything to her." She went quiet for a minute. "She gets to start over. She gets to have one more shot at being a mother and God knows she won't be a grandmother anytime soon."

"They'll page me if they need me," Alex countered.

"Dad, it would make me feel a lot better if I knew that you were in that operating room ready in case something went wrong. It could take minutes for you to get to the OR, minutes she might not have. So please," she requested, "just go and take care of Mom. You can't do anything here anyway."

"I'm not leaving you alone. That wouldn't be right," he uttered. "The only way I'm going up there is if you promise to find someone to sit here with you."

Melanie thought for a moment. He was right as much as she didn't want to admit it. She shouldn't be alone now of all times, but her pride wouldn't let her allow someone to see her at such a low point. It had only ever been her mother who she trusted enough to expose herself to. It was then she realized she had a person now, someone who she knew just wanted her to be true. "Ok, I'll page someone now," she promised.

"Ok," Alex sighed as he kissed her forehead. "If you need me, page me."

Melanie saw the door shut softly behind him as she pulled out her pager. She hoped her person wasn't still mad as she typed the message. She just wanted to let him in.

Please leave a review for inspiration and as always thank you for reading. -Jen