I'll Be Home For Christmas
"Look, I know it's a long shot." Layton stated to the Second Engineer. "But all I'm asking here is do you think it would be possible?"
Bennett got up and walked across the engine room, running his hands through his hair as he did so before turning back to the train's chancellor.
"All right. Yes, it's possible." He answered finally. "But for WHAT, Layton? A dream? Some...crazy idea she has?"
"It may be crazy. But she's held onto it for seven years, Bennett. Some days I swear, besides Alex, it's the only thing on this train that she ever looks forward to."
"Looks forward to?!" The man asked in disbelief. "What it is is her one way trip to depression city for a few days. Usually one day before, the day of, and the day after. And now you don't want to just feed that fire, you want to throw gasoline on it!"
"How would this hurt anything?" The train's chancellor tried to press his point.
"What if you're wrong?"
Layton fell silent.
"Listen to me." Bennett stated, stepping up to the man. "As much as this may depress her, as much as it may drive her crazy for days every time we get near, and as totally unlikely as this belief of her is, it does represent hope to her. She looks FORWARD to it, Layton. Now," he asked, pulling back as he straightened his back, "are you really ready to take that away from her if you're wrong?"
Layton held his ground. "The point is, I don't think I am. And I don't think she is. Melanie would know the answer to this puzzle better than anyone..."
"...because she WANTS to." Bennett pressed.
Layton gave a sigh. "Look, either way, right or wrong...,"
"Wrong!"
"...what is the harm in trying?"
"I believe I just explained that."
"All I'm asking is to stop the train for an hour or so. That's as involved in this as you have to be." Layton offered.
"Until the fallout. You think she's depressed now. Just wait until you're wrong. And why now?" Bennett added. "Why do it at this particular time of the year? Why not wait for the next passing? It'll be the beginning of summer then."
"Because this will make it all the more special for her." Layton explained. "In seven years, this is as close as we've come to a passing at Christmas."
Bennett crossed his arms in front of him. "So...what? You're going to send her home for Christmas?"
A smile answered the other man's growing disapproval. "Exactly!"
Bennett held his stance, saying nothing.
"One hour." Layton pleaded.
Bennett considered the request. "I'll think about it," He finally answered.
"We only have three days." Layton reminded him as the Second Engineer turned and walked away, earning him only a small wave in response.
Bennett was back with his answer the next day. Walking into the small office Layton used to conduct some of his work without so much as a greeting, the Second Engineer took up his post in front of the desk.
Layton glanced up, not liking one bit the stare looking back at him.
"Come in?" He offered.
"No." Bennett answered in a solid tone. "That's my answer. No."
Layton put down his pen and folded his hands on his desk.
"Any other time of the year." Bennett answered the look. "Next passing, in the spring, the next one in November. Take her home for Thanksgiving. Anything...but Christmas."
"Why?"
"Melanie was never big on holidays after the train left. With good cause. They were all about family. She didn't have her's anymore. As carefully as we tried to plan it, to make sure all of her family got on board, it didn't happen." Bennett paused for a moment. "Christmas was the only holiday she even gave the slightest nod to each year because she made sure each and every year she spent it at her parent's farm. It meant something incredibly special to her to be able to be with them on that one day of the year. She would do nothing for weeks afterwards but talk about it. Watching Alex open her presents, helping her mom make dinner, all of them sitting around the table eating. It's a very special, treasured memory for her."
Layton continued to stare up at the man. "You know I can over-ride your decision. Order you to stop the train."
Bennett gave a stiff nod. "And I am hoping you won't do that." He replied. "Please don't take this last bit of hope away from her in the worst way possible."
"She says she knows these track like the back of her hand. She swears..."
"And I know these tracks just as well. I tested them before the freeze. You CAN NOT see her parent's farm from this location. It isn't possible."
Layton continued to stare up at him, then finally gave a small sigh. "I'll do you the same courtesy you gave me, Bennett. I'll THINK about it."
"Think hard." Bennett replied. "Do not take this last hope away from her."
Layton's eyes followed the man out the door. He considered what the Second Engineer had said, but in the back of his mind, he had already made his decision.
The next day, Layton kept a careful watch on his roommate. He had been through several passings with her before, so he knew what to look for. The slow withdraw. The decrease in any emotional response to anything around her. It was like watching her slowly shut down to the world around her and simply wrap herself in the sadness and depression the event brought with it for her.
Over the pass few times she had tried to cover her feelings as best she could for Alex's sake. Since dividing her time more and more between Snowpiercer and Big Alice, the teenager had spent the last few passings with her mother, each supporting the other and feeding into their mutual hope.
But Layton always admired that Melanie managed each time to make it through the day with some sense of normalcy. Burying herself in her work right up to the time she would go with Alex to one the observation domes to look out over the snow at a non-existent feature set against the horizon, swearing they could identify hills and other raised areas on the otherwise flat plain as proof of their long, mutually held belief.
But this passing, Layton wanted to give both of them something more than just a silently held hope that what they both so desperately wished for was actual reality. That somewhere beneath the frozen tundra on a desolate, wind swept plain, not just a memory laid buried, but a family homestead still existed.
In addition to just the time of the passing, Layton felt everything else was also conspiring to help his plan succeed. Bennett had given his answer to the proposal. A resounding 'No.', but acknowledged none to happily that Layton was still the leader of the train and could over-ride the Second Engineer's decision to stop the train. Which was, in fact, exactly what he planned to do. While Layton still didn't want to alienate Bennett by so blatantly disregarding his warnings, in the end he felt he simply could not disregard the events that were forming the perfect alignment for his plan to go forward. Bennett would be driving the train the night before, and that would leave Javi in control of the train Christmas day while Bennett went back to his cabin to sleep. Not knowing how heavy a sleeper the man was, Layton hoped it was something akin to his roommate, and nothing short of a small explosion under his bunk would wake him once he fell asleep.
Having already explained the plan to Javi, Layton was up front with the Third Engineer on Bennett's feelings on the matter. He didn't want the Second Engineer to feel this was a sneak attack to circumvent his feelings regarding the plan or cause any waves between the two friends. But Javiar was happy to assist in something that may mean the world to Melanie, even if it did mean going against Bennett's decision.
With everything else in place, Layton stepped into the third part of his plan that afternoon as he walked through the engine room.
"Melanie." He called out, walking into the forward part of the engine where Javi had mentioned she would be working that day. He knew giving her only a matter of hours to think this over wasn't the best part of his plan, but he knew Bennett was incredibly attuned to her moods, and would pick up quickly something wasn't right if she wasn't her usual withdrawn self the next day.
Poking her head out of a cabinet, Melanie looked up to see that the voice and the face matched before going back to her work.
"What is it, Layton? I'm busy."
Layton walked up to the cabinet with half of a body sticking out of it still.
"Well, could you be a little less 'busy' for a moment? I'd like to talk to you."
He watched the body suddenly go still.
Whenever they approached each other in this way, it could mean a number of things. But the one thing it always meant was it was something serious.
Slowly the body backed out of the cabinet and stood up to face him. Her face was already set for confrontation.
"All right. Let's hear it."
Layton tried to relax his stance a bit, hoping she would follow his lead. "No, no. It's nothing like that." He quickly stated. "I just wanted to...run an idea by you."
"I'm not going to like the idea." She quickly replied.
"How do you know that!? You haven't even heard it yet!" Layton protested.
"You're here. You couldn't wait until tonight in the cabin. You came alone. You made sure to wait until I was far enough back in the engine so no one else would hear." She laid out her reasoning. "I am not going to like it." She repeated by way of a closure.
Layton just stared at her for a moment, the gave a small sigh. "I swear. it's like living with my mother sometimes."
"You could likely lie to your mother." Melanie replied bluntly. "You can't lie to me."
Layton sighed again. "Can I at least present my idea?"
"Am I going to like it?"
Another sigh. "Probably not. But I want you to hear the whole idea before you decide."
Melanie gave him a small nod.
One more sigh.
"All right. Now, I know what tomorrow is..."
"It's Christmas." Came the fast reply.
Layton fixed his stare on her. "It's also something else to you." He added.
Melanie simply fell silent this time, returning his stare measure for measure.
"Now I know this day is very personal to you..."
Melanie quickly put her hands up. "Layton if you have something planned for Christmas, I won't let what day it is for Alex and I personally ruin anything. But you know we always go up..."
"...to the observation dome when we pass. I know." He answered.
Melanie put her hands down in an almost defeated gesture. "Then what is this about?"
Layton gave her a half cautious smile. "I thought maybe you and Alex might like to see the farmhouse a little closer this year."
A questioning look answered him. "A little closer?"
Layton paused for a moment again. Here it came. The whole pitch.
"I thought maybe, since we were passing by your parent's farm exactly on Christmas day..., maybe...you'd like to go home for Christmas this year."
Melanie stated back at him in silence. He was surprised to see not the suspicion in her expression he usually got at his suggestions, but a genuine curiosity.
"What do you mean?"
"What I mean, Ms. Cavill, is that this time I would like to stop the train and allow you and Alex to take the sleds out and drive them to where you feel your parent's farm is. So that just once, after seven long years, you can go home for Christmas again."
Layton waited for the refusal. For the hundred reasons she would come up with to not do it. For that look of utter refusal with no room for him to maneuver around it.
But to his surprise, this time he saw none of her usual reactions coming to the forefront.
Instead he saw the tears start to brim up in her bright green eyes.
"Home?" She whispered.
Layton gave her a small, cautious smile again and a nod.
"You would do this?" She asked in a near silent whisper. "For me and Alex? Stop the train and let us go home?"
Layton gave another small nod. "I checked with Javi. He said the batteries are charged enough that we could stop the train for an hour or more and still restart easily with no problem.
Two tears quickly brimmed over and ran down her cheeks as she threw herself into his arms.
"LAYTON!"
Barely able to hold his balance at the assault, Layton was grateful for the railing behind him as Melanie collided with him head on.
Carefully wrapping his arms around her smaller frame, Layton smiled over her shoulder. "I'll take that as a 'Yes.'."
"You did it anyway!" Came the stark accusation that night as Layton was sitting in his makeshift office in the Counsel Room.
Layton looked up from his work to see a none to happy Bennett Knox coming into the room, full of fury.
Two hands slammed themselves down on the table across from Layton. "You went DIRECTLY against my recommendation and made your offer to her without consulting me first."
"I did consult you." Layton answered plainly. "You were against it. I understood that. I didn't see a need to consult you again."
"But this isn't going to help anything! Don't you understand that? It's just going to make everything worse." "I'm afraid I just don't see it that way." "What is it about this?" Bennett asked, none of the anger leaving his voice. "What is it about this that you can't...just leave it alone? She deals with it. In her own way. All you're doing...is feeding her fantasy."
"Is that what you think it is?" A voice suddenly asked from behind him. "A fantasy?"
Bennett turned quickly around to face Melanie's hard stare.
"Well?" She asked in the deep silence.
Bennett took a deep breath. "Melanie, I didn't mean..."
"Mean what?" She asked, walking over to him. "For me to hear that? I don't doubt that for a minute." She took a stand in front of him. "I knew you never really believed it." She said in a low, quiet tone that Bennett could hear the hurt in every word of just the same. "But I never once thought you always stood beside me each time just to...placate some 'fantasy'."
"It was never that, Melanie." He tried to explain. "And I'm not trying to stop this to hurt you. I'm trying..." But his reasoning failed him at that moment.
"To do what? Keep my 'fantasy' alive?"
Bennett tried once more to plead his case. "In a manner of speaking, yes."
"Really?"
"Melanie, you believe it's out there. That's all that should matter."
"But it isn't." She answered him. "It also meant something to me that I thought that, just in some small way, you believed it, too."
Bennett let his eyes lower to the floor.
"But you don't." Melanie read his answer.
"It doesn't matter what I believe."
"But it does." She answered. "It mattered to me."
Quickly side stepping him, she hurried out of the room, leaving the two men facing each other.
"I'm sorry." Layton offered. "I didn't mean for..."
But Bennett put his hand up. "You have your beliefs." He stated. "I have mine. Time alone will tell which one of us will be standing next to her when she learns the truth."
"And it should be both of us." Layton offered. "Because if it turns out I was right, despite how she feels now, she would still want you there, sharing in that with her."
"And if you're wrong?"
"Then she'll need you there even more."
Bennett considered his words, then slowly turned and left the room without saying anything more.
The next morning Layton watched as Melanie went through the motions of getting dressed.
It wasn't that she wasn't excited. He knew her too well to think that. It was that part of her was missing in that excitement. And despite how she may feel about him at the moment, still a very important part.
Coming up behind her as she fastened the front of her engineering uniform, he gently laid his hands on her shoulders.
"You going to be OK with this still?" He asked in a concerned voice.
Melanie paused for a moment, then nodded her head.
"I always knew how he felt about it, Layton." She replied quietly. "I guess...I just allowed myself to think that over the years maybe he had come to believe in it even the smallest bit. That he believed it because I did."
Layton squeezed her shoulders slightly. "He wasn't trying to hurt you. You know that. He was trying to protect you."
Melanie turned to him suddenly. "And what if I'm right?" She asked. "What if we go out there and we find the farmhouse? Then what?"
"Then I hope you'll be happy to have that proof finally."
"And his doubt would still have been there all along."
Layton stared down at her. "And maybe this time it's you who has to give a little."
"What do you mean?"
"You always told me Bennett was logical, right?"
Melanie nodded.
"He believes in facts and figures."
Melanie paused, starting to see his point.
"You can't fault the man for being who he is, Melanie. Everyone has flaws. You either accept them or you don't. The main thing with Bennett I think you need to keep in mind, is he never doubted you to hurt you. To throw it back in your face one day if you were proved to be wrong. He held onto that disbelief to protect you the only way he knew how in all this. To keep you rooted even just the smallest bit in the reality that this may not turn out the way you hope it will. So be willing to be prepared to give a little, no matter how this turns out, OK?"
Melanie paused, then gave him a quick nod as they headed out of the cabin for the cold locks near the front of the train.
"Preparing to stop." Came the announcement over the speaker from the Third Engineer into the cold lock bay where the sleds were kept.
Layton sat on the sled, the engine humming steadily beneath them. Turning to his roommate over his shoulder he gave her an encouraging smile.
"Ready?" He asked.
Melanie gave him a quick nod.
"Still time to turn back."
A quick shake answered him this time.
Layton turned to Alex, seated on the sled next to them.
"What about you?" He asked.
Alex gave him a quick smile and a thumbs up response.
"All right, Javi." He stated into his communicator, "We're ready to launch."
Feeling the train slow to a full stop, Layton revved up the sled, preparing to hit the snow at full throttle. Melanie seemed to share in his excitement as she tightened her hold around his waist from behind a little more.
All three occupants carefully waited for the bay doors to open.
But the two solid white doors before them remained closed.
Layton waited for a few moments.
"Javi?"
"One minute." Came the reply. "Something's jamming the door. I can't open it."
"Could the train still be in motion?" Melanie asked over her own communicator. "The doors for the sled bay won't open if they sense motion."
"The train is at a full stop." Came the quick report. "It has to be something else."
A soft hiss behind them caused the three to turn suddenly.
Standing in the door was Bennett.
Already dressed in a survival suit, he placed the helmet over his head as he walked into the room.
"Room for one more in this group?" He asked into the communicator.
Layton stared at the man in silence for a moment. "It's not up to me." He answered, turning to the woman behind him who had a hard stare set on the new comer.
"Melanie," He answered her look with an apologetic one, "I can't change my opinion on this. But I can change my feelings about it. It's important to you. Getting this answer, right or wrong. So it should be just as important to me, regardless of my thoughts on it, that I am at least standing next to you while you search for that answer. Supporting you through it." He paused for a moment. "If you still want me there."
Melanie paused for a moment, then cast a quick glance at Layton.
"You're call." He answered her silent question.
Thinking the matter over for a few seconds, Melanie finally looked up at him and gave him a small nod. She hadn't forgiven him completely, but she was at least willing to do what Layton had suggested.
To give a little.
Bennett seated himself on the opposite sled as Alex slid back to make room for him.
Layton kept a questioning stare fixed on the man as he turned to the train's leader once more.
"Right or wrong," Bennett answered the stare, turning finally to Melanie, "I'm not going to let you face this alone."
Melanie favored him with a shy smile. "It means a lot having you here." She answered.
"All right, Javi." Layton spoke into the communicator again. "I think the doors will work now."
Almost instantly the doors to the cold lock housing the sleds opened as a ramp extended. An instant later two sled hit the snow covered plain and took off across the drifts, leaving a cloud of white billowing up behind them.
The trip out to where Melanie stated the farm was took several minutes, and one of the many things Layton was grateful for that day was that the weather seemed determined to cooperate with them. A large, brilliant sun shone on the horizon, making one of it's rare appearances that time of the year through the layers of clouds.
When Melanie signaled for him, he brought the sled to a slow stop with Bennett and Alex pulling up next to them.
Alex seemed to agree with her mother's calculations of where the farm was as she excitedly jumped off the sled and ran up the small incline they were parked in front of.
As he disembarked himself, Layton turned back to see how far they had come. Far in the distance behind them, he could see the columns of stream rising from the sides of the engine as it took its rest on the tracks, waiting for it's passengers to return. The train seemed little more than a dot on the horizon and Layton made a careful note of where it was in relation to how the sleds were parked in case the weather were to suddenly turn against them. Not an uncommon occurrence on the plains.
Pulling a large pole off the sled as she walked around it, Melanie started up the small hill after her daughter.
"Now what?" Layton asked, following after her.
Melanie stopped at the crest. "This should be where the house is." She explained, pulling up and burying the pole in the snow with a solid thrust. "Even thought it was made primarily of wood, there was enough metal in the frame and other metal items in the house that the sensors at the end of the pole should be able to detect them."
Layton gave her a quick smile. "Leave it to a scientist to want her proof." He commented.
"Engineer." Melanie quickly corrected him, pulling a small panel board out of the side pocket of her survival suit and connecting it to the terminals on the pole.
For the next half hour, Layton watched as Melanie worked with the pole. She moved it several times, her expression becoming more grim with each placement. Several times he had offered to help, carrying the pole for her to a new location and burying it with every ounce of strength he had to make sure it went into the snow as deeply as he could bury it.
But each time Melanie would check the readings, it always ended with her murmuring in disappointment to herself.
Several times Alex would abandon the snowball fight she was having with Bennett to come over and see what her mother was mumbling into her communicator about. But Melanie would favor the teenager with a small smile each time and tell her she just wasn't getting as strong of readings as she hoped for.
But Layton finally came over when her latest placement got the same reaction from her. Switching his communicator only to her frequency, he leaned over her shoulder.
"What's going on?" He asked quietly.
Melanie followed suit with her own communication device, keeping their conversation private.
"Nothing." She replied in a hard, disappointed tone. "I've checked all over the area, Layton." She paused for a moment as she stared at the latest reading on the panel. "There's nothing here." Came the soft reply.
"Maybe the ground is just too hard for the sensors to get through." He offered. "The pole isn't made to go that deep and the sensors aren't that strong."
"And the snow shouldn't be more than a few feet deep." Melanie replied. "The wind out here would have regularly blown off any fresh snow and kept it from accumulating." She gave a deep sigh as she turned to the ground. "It's just not here, Layton." She replied quietly. "I was wrong."
Layton gently laid a hand on her shoulder, answering her disappointment. "I'm sorry it didn't turn out the way you hoped. I really am."
Melanie shook her head. "It doesn't matter. I know where we are, and I know where my parent's farm was. It's out here somewhere. It just...wasn't here."
"I'm still sorry." Layton replied. "I didn't want to spoil yours and Alex's Christmas."
Melanie shook her head again. "You didn't." She turned to him. "What you did was a wonderful thing, Layton. And I thank you for trying. The house just isn't here. In this exact spot. But I know it's out here in this area somewhere. That's all that matters."
Layton tried to put a positive spin on things as he gave her a quick smile. "OK. Then maybe we can check a different area." Melanie was looking out over the plain, as though assessing her best estimate at where to try next when Bennett called out to them over the communicator. "Time to go, Melanie." He stated.
Both she and Layton looked up to where the man was standing. Pointing at the horizon in front of them, thy both followed his indicated direction.
Just over the horizon, the sun was beginning to become obscured by a hazy covering, almost like a light fog settling over it. But closer to the ground, the mist was much thicker and small circular patterns could be seen forming in the fog-like cloud.
"A snow storm." Melanie whispered. "Out here we have no protection from it. We have to get back to the train fast."
Layton was already helping her pull the pole up out of it's last position and collapse it back down as Melanie detached the small panel from the side and returned it to her suit's side pocket.
"How much time do we have?"
Melanie looked out at the storm again. "It's traveling fast. We'll have to hurry in order to get back to Snowpiercer and still give the train time to power up the engine again and get moving." Melanie looked around the flat area they stood on. "Alex!?"
The teenager was moving from a small mound she had been standing on towards the sleds.
"Already on it, mom." She called out, waving to them as she pressed through the snow. "It looks like a bad one."
All four of them were on the sleds and moving back toward the train at top speed in a matter of minutes. But not even five minutes into the trip back, Bennett's sled was sudden jarred to the side and was thrown off the snow as it hit something in it's path, throwing both occupants off the sled as it came to a rest on it's side.
Traveling behind them, Melanie and Layton saw the accident, with Layton barely stopping the sled before Melanie jumped off and ran for her daughter.
"ALEX!"
But the girl was already pulling herself to her feet, as was Bennett, who was also moving to help her.
"I'm fine!" She called out to her would be rescuers with the disdain of any good teenager. "But what in the heck did we hit? It felt like a...OOWWW!" A sudden cry came out over the communicator.
Melanie quickly turned to the cry of pain. "Alex?!" She cried out, continuing to run towards where her daughter had now fallen in the snow, holding one leg as she tried to pull it closer to her.
In seconds Melanie was at her side. "Alex!? What happened? Are you all right?"
"I'm fine" She stated, trying to examine the bottom of one of her boots. "I just...I stepped on something. Something sharp!" She added for emphasis. "Good thing these suits have thick soles on them. Whatever it was it felt like it could have torn right through just about anything else."
By now Layton and Bennett were also both at the girl's side, seeing what had happened.
"Come on, lets get you back to the sled." Bennett offered, helping Alex to her feet.
But the teenager all but pushed him away as she turned back to where she had felt the prick on the bottom of her sole.
"Wait a minute!" She stated.
Limping back to the exact spot, Alex brushed a bit of snow away. She stood for a moment staring at the ground in amazement, then suddenly fell to her knees and began digging furiously in the snow.
"Mom!" She cried out. "Mom! Come quick!"
Hurrying over to where her daughter had cleared the snow away, Melanie looked down at the small hole in the snow, stunned at what she saw.
By the time Layton and Bennett arrived, Melanie was now down on her knees next to her daughter, frantically digging with her own hands to enlarge the hole and further expose the priceless treasure that was buried there.
As they arrived, Melanie and Alex pulled back so the two men could see what they had uncovered.
For several moments Layton simply stared at the bright red object.
"What is that?" He finally asked.
Melanie turned to him, her face lit up with joy at what Alex had found.
"It's a weather vane!" She proudly announced.
"It's the one on top of Pawpaw and Nanaw's old barn!" Alex declared with just as much pride and excitement. "The last summer before the weather got really cold, Pawpaw painted it bright red." She stated, pointing to her treasure in the snow. "He said this way we would always be able to see it and know where home was."
Melanie smiled at the object, a small tear lighting down her cheek. "We still always knew where home was." She whispered quietly, reaching out and giving the weather vane a loving caress with her fingers.
Waiting for a few moments, Bennett finally turned to the horizon again. "I really do hate to break this up." He stated. "But the storm is moving faster. We have to go."
Getting up, Melanie and Alex took one last look at the bright red weather vane before turning and heading off towards the sleds. Although she wanted more than anything to delay their leaving, maybe even find a way to detach the weather vane and take it with them as proof of what they had set out to do, Melanie knew the most important thing right now was getting back to Snowpiercer as fast as possible. Every second delayed was a second that put the train and the others on it in danger if they couldn't get moving again and outrun the storm.
Once back on the train, Melanie immediately seated herself in the helm chair with Bennett taking the one next to her.
"Javi, fire up the engine." She called back to the Third Engineer. "We need to get out of here fast. And call back to Big Alice. Let Eliah know we need her help to get the trains away from that storm if we can."
All around them Layton felt the train start up again, engaging the wheels beneath them as Snowpiercer began to move, pressing forward with every turn. But soon he could feel Big Alice's push come into effect and the trains quickly picked up speed as they left the area.
Thankfully the storm turned course as it moved across the plain and trains only ended up needing to plow through the very fringe of it. As the wind whipped the snow around them, Melanie hardly saw it, lost instead in a memory of what the same type of storm sounded like as she would sit by a roaring fire in her parent's front room, with Alex sitting on her lap as she comforted the child scared by the howling winds. The same child who was now a teenager, leaned over the console panel next to where her mother was driving the train, watching the same driving winds blow snow over the sleek outer exterior of the train. Who would turn every so often and share a knowing smile with her mother before turning back to the storm.
That night Melanie sat on the sofa watching her roommate clean up three cups from a late night hot coco indulgement. They had all gone down to one of the main cafeterias to get food and ate with 'The Horde', who had grabbed several tables in the same area so they could all share Christmas dinner together. After a gift exchange, Melanie, Alex, and Layton had all dragged themselves back to the cabin with full stomachs, looking forward to nothing more than a quiet rest of the evening and finally a comfortable slumber for the rest of the night.
Alex was already in bed by the time Layton finished the dishes. He quietly came out to the main room where Melanie was sitting and offered her his hand.
"Time for bed, Ms. Cavill." He stated in a hushed whisper.
But instead Melanie patted the seat next to her on the sofa. "First I want to tell you something." She replied.
Layton took the seat next to her. He draped a friendly arm over her shoulder as she leaned against him.
Melanie turned to him with a happy smile. "I don't think once today I ever thanked you for what you did." She said.
Layton smiled back at her. "You didn't need to." He answered her. "Just seeing how happy you were as you and Alex regaled everyone at dinner tonight with our tale of adventure was more than..."
"It wasn't enough." Melanie stated. "For years I stood and watched as the train drove through this stretch of land, Layton. I know I always told myself that was the place. That my parent's farm was just where I believed it to be. And I took some comfort in that. But...somewhere...in a small corner of my mind...I guess doubted even myself. I thought maybe I just wanted to believe it so much, for it to be true, that...I just made myself believe it." Melanie readjusted herself as she snuggled in a little closer to his warmth. "But now I know for sure. And not just me," she added, "I know it meant even more to Alex. She was so close to her grandparents and loved them so much. It's a comfort to her to know they have a place to be in her mind now. They're still on their beloved farm. And twice a year when the train passes by she knows the farm is really there still. A connection to her past." She paused for a moment. "It means a lot to both of us. To know it really is there. Right where we thought it was."
Layton gave a soft laugh as he turned to the silence settling around them in the semi-darkness of the cabin.
"Well, not 'exactly' where you thought it was." He reminded her. "You were about a mile off based on how far we had traveled back to the train. Which...," he quickly reminded her, "...was likely why the sensors didn't pick up any readings. We were too far away."
A soft but happy laugh answered him.
"Still, I'm glad it worked out the way it did." Layton replied. "Because it was a gamble from the start. And I dreaded thinking I was wrong and every time we passed by then you would only know the farm wasn't there."
"But you weren't wrong." She said with a happy smile, turning to him. "And this has been an even more special Christmas because of your gift. So thank you." She added, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek.
Layton returned her smile. "So are we ready for bed then?" He asked. "Because I swear I can feel that cold outside seeping through the walls tonight."
Melanie gave another soft laugh as she pulled herself up off the sofa. "I think I can, too." She replied. "And a soft warm bed with my favorite bed warmer sounds like the perfect end to the day."
Getting up with her, Layton gently took her by the shoulders and turned her to him for a moment.
"I'm glad it worked out this way for you, Melanie." He told her.
Melanie smiled up at him. "Merry Christmas, Mr. Layton." She whispered.
"Merry Christmas, Ms. Cavill." He replied in the same soft tone, and with a gentle, shared kiss, they headed off to enjoy a quiet, comfortable rest of their Christmas.