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Today was a very stressful day for the emergency medicine staff at Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center. And on days like today, sometimes the staff like to go out for a drink and forget about all the things they had to see during their shift. All the broken bodies, sobbing mothers, and positive test results.
And what better way to calm yourself down than alcohol? Now that Javadi was 21, the PTMC crew decided to simultaneously celebrate by visiting a bar rather than sneaking her a lukewarm can of beer after work. Everyone was excited to finally be able to decompress and talk to each other about something other than blood samples.
Well, everyone except for Mel. Not that she didn’t enjoy spending time with her co-workers, she definitely did. But Mel doesn’t thrive that well in extremely social places, especially where she doesn’t know the “rules”. She feels left out of the loop a lot of times and has a hard time knowing how she should act in specific scenarios. It didn’t help that pretty much the only time she leaves the house for something other than work, she would just spend time with her sister Becca personally, not having to worry about how she saw her or the impression she would make on anybody.
But this time, Mel decided to go. Her reasoning behind it may or may not have involved some coercion on Langdon’s end, but nonetheless, she would go out drinking for the first time with her co-workers. And it was safe to say she was very nervous. Not that she didn’t like drinking, she wouldn’t mind it from time to time, in the safety of her own home. Drinking in public was a whole other subject. And what if they thought she wasn’t drinking enough? That she couldn’t be fun? She’d just look like some stick in the mud who hates her co-workers. That’s it. Mel already thinks they don’t think she’s fun to talk to and awkward to hang out with, and she would hate to make them think even less of her.
You could say she’s just anxious and overthinking, but historically, Mel has always been outcasted for reasons like this. She’d be too “different”, always talking about things no other kid had interests in. She’d be the one sitting alone at lunch, she’d have the clothes the clique-y kids would make fun of, and she’d be the one who no one wanted on their P.E. sports teams. It’s a tale as old as time, and it’s one that has made Mel gravely afraid of seeming uninteresting her whole life. That’s why she’s so close to her sister, she thinks that if Becca leaves her, she would be completely and utterly alone and have nothing to show for herself to prove it should be otherwise. So maybe this outing will be her chance to convince people she can be cool too and fit in, but there was a high risk.
“Something on your mind, Mel?” Langdon asks, opening the door to the bar and holding it for her. “Oh, it’s nothing. I’m ready to get this party s-started!” Mel replies. Langdon laughs. “That’s the spirit,” he says.
They enter the bar, Mel is basically following Langdon like a shadow. She figures her best bet for seeming normal is to just follow his lead. The bar has a rustic yet comforting feel to it. It looks like just about any other bar you’d visit with your co-workers for a night out. Langdon takes a seat in a red-cushioned bar stool and of course, Mel plops down in the one directly next to him. It had very little back support, which made Mel feel nervous, not knowing about how she should sit. It seems like an exaggeration, but Mel really did worry about everything.
“So what’re you thinking of getting?” Langdon asks.
Safe option, Mel thinks. “Oh, me? Um… I’m thinking of getting a ginger ale…”
“You mean with tequila or something?”
“Oh…No, I meant just–Just ginger ale.” Mel suddenly gets nervous. So much for a safe option. Langdon snickers. “That’s just like you Mel. But how about tonight, we get you something nicer. It’s on me.”
What…? “Oh. No, no, money isn’t the issue, I just uh–”
“No, I didn’t think so! Don’t worry,” Even though it was for the wrong thing, Langdon telling Mel not to worry comforted her somewhat. It reminded her that out of everyone in this room, Langdon would be the last one to judge her. “Let’s just have some fun tonight, yeah?”
Fun. Mel could be fun. “Oh, pssh, yeah, of course. Fun. Let’s have some fun. But not too much fun. Just some. Just the normal amount. Hahaha…”
Langdon laughs again, “Whatever you say. Well, anyway. For you, I’m thinking…Vodka cranberry.” Mel just nods, even though she’s never had one. She does like cranberry juice though. “How’d you know I like cranberry juice?”
“I didn’t. Just seemed like the best option for you. And look at me, guess I was right.” Langdon flashed her a smile. It made Mel’s heart skip a beat, resulting in an awkward smile and even more fidgety hands from her. Mel has always thought of Langdon really highly. She just hopes that she won’t say anything stupid to him when she inevitably gets tipsy.
Langdon turns his attention to the bartender, who was seeming invested in a conversation with Dana on the other side of the counter. “Excuse me,” Langdon called for his attention. He gives Dana a wink and makes his way over to Langdon.
“What can I get for you?” He asks.
“I’ll have a whiskey, and can we get a vodka cranberry for her? Thanks,” Langdon says his and Mel’s order politely. He knows that Mel can get anxious talking to people so, like the gentleman he is, he decided to order for her.
“Whiskey for you, vodka cranberry for the lady, got it,” he begins making the drinks.
“Sorry for stealing him away from you, Dana!” Langdon yells across the room towards Dana, who responds by rolling her eyes and taking a sip of her drink.
“Oh, she’ll live,” the bartender says, smiling. “How about you two, how long have you been together?” Mel is too busy spacing out, staring at the wall of license plates behind the bar, to notice what the bartender is saying. Which leaves Langdon fumbling over his words, not expecting Mel to have no reaction this time (because yes, this has happened before, enough times for Langdon to know what to expect).
“O-oh, we’re not,” Langdon clears his throat. “Um, all of us here are actually doctors and nurses from over at the PTMC,” Langdon points to the direction of the hospital. “We sometimes like to go drinking after work,”
“So…Not dating then?” The bartender asks. Langdon shakes his head a little too quickly, a slight blush creeping up his cheeks, sweat rolling down the center of his neck. “Well, you got a wife then? Kids?”
“Uh… I actually just split up with my wife, yeah…I do have two kids though, and it’s shared custody, so…”
“Ahh, I see,” the bartender places down their drinks with a thud and begins to turn back towards Dana, “enjoy,” he says before walking away. Mel snaps out of it with the sound and impact of the drink being placed on the counter. Langdon notices her flinch, and asks, “Woah, you alright Mel?”
“Me, oh yeah, I’m fine. Just excited to, um, drink,” she says, a little on edge since she was caught off guard.
“You know, you don’t have to drink it if you don’t want to, no one’s forcing you–”
Mel interrupts, “No, no, I want this, trust me.” Mel takes a sip of her drink, a drop spilling over her lips with a glossy shine that draws Langdon’s eyes toward them. Then he looked back up at her eyes. “If you say so…” Langdon took a sip of his whiskey at the same time. When he looked back at Mel, he saw her chugging the remains of her drink. “Jesus, Mel–” She slams the glass down. “Hahaha! Refreshing! We are having so much fun right now.” Langdon’s eyes widen.
“Seriously Mel,” he says in a low whisper, “you sure you’re okay? This isn’t like you…”
Mel shakes her head. “I don’t know what you mean. This is just how I am, I’m just fun and spontaneous like that.” Langdon stares at her, somewhat in disbelief. “Mel–”
“Hey, bartender, can I get another one of these, please?” Mel asks, her voice contrasting the quiet conversation Langdon wanted to have. He’s slowly realized what Mel’s trying to do, and it hurts him to see. Doesn’t she know that the way she is is perfectly enough for some people? It’s certainly more than enough for him.
However the bartender nods, and makes Mel another vodka cranberry. Langdon looks Mel up and down as she dances in her seat.
“Ooh, nice, Mel! Love your dance moves!” Mckay says from the barstool on Langdon’s lefthand side.
“I taught her those by the way,” Trinity chimes in, sitting at a small table with Whitaker. She scoffs, then says, “yep, she learned it from the best.” Then she takes a sip of Whitaker’s drink.
“Hey–”
“Oh, shut up, Huckleberry. I’ll pay you back if you care that much.”
Whitaker sighs. “No, I don’t…”
It was honestly surprising that Trinity would ever admit to teaching Mel her “dance moves” because they were awfully awkward and rigid. Mel wasn’t the best dancer, so the fact she was being confident enough to dance was really surprising, almost outlandish. It makes sense that a lot of her co-workers had their eyes on her as she took out her braid.
But the moment she does that, Langdon’s breath hitches and his heart nearly stops. He had never seen Mel’s hair down before. Until now. He watches as it uncoils onto her shoulders and stops near her chest, the color and waviness making her hair remind Langdon of a classic American golden field of grain. To put it simply, she looked gorgeous. And as she twisted around, drink in the air, moving to the music… Langdon could barely contain himself. He bit his lip and looked down at his drink, swishing it around in its glass. When he looks back up at Mel, he sees that she had already finished her second vodka cranberry.
“Mel, you don’t think you’re drinking too fast…? I mean, you know as well as I do that it can be dangerous…” Langdon said, his voice laced with concern, like earlier, but also a hint of something else.
“Oh, I’ll be fine. Besides, I can’t be safe all the time, right? Sometimes you have to be wild and adventurous! Right?” Mel said, beaming with newfound energy. “Another vodka cranberry please,” Mel calls to the bartender.
“Okay, I don’t wanna police you, but that has got to be your last one, okay? I’m worried about you, Mel. Is something wrong…?”
“For the last time, nothing’s wrong! I’ve always been this cool. You all just doubted me…” Mel pointed around the bar as she said that, but everyone else had pretty much gone back to their respective conversations, so it didn’t really mean anything to anyone except Langdon.
“Doubted–Doubted you?” Langdon said. Mel was already sipping on her 3rd vodka cranberry. “I’ve never…Doubted you, Mel, what’re you saying?” Mel suddenly goes silent, her body slowing down as she thinks about what he’s saying.
“Oh. Well, I just thought…It’s nothing, don’t mind me, I’m just saying things.” Langdon just stares at her, unsure of what to do. How could he convince her that he enjoyed spending time with her, every second of it? Before he could do anything, she asks for yet another vodka cranberry. The bartender hesitantly gives it to her but Langdon starts getting upset.
“No–Mel I have to cut you off. This isn’t safe. Again, you know what can happen to people who drink too much. Look, I know I like guessing patients’ BAC levels, but I’d really appreciate it if I didn’t have to guess yours.” Langdon tries throwing some humor in his words, but in reality he was just extremely worried. He could tell Mel has been pushing herself to the limit, and for what? To prove herself? To seem “normal”? Screw that.
“It’s fiii~ne Langdonnn, seriously…” It was pretty obvious at this point that Mel was drunk, and it was a side Langdon was very much unfamiliar with. He watches as Mel lifts the glass and her lips touch the rim.
Suddenly, Langdon lunges at the glass, causing some of it to spill on him and Mel, and creating quite a commotion. Mel would’ve fallen off of her seat if it weren’t for Langdon’s free arm supporting her as he snatched the glass with his other hand. He places it on the counter as he refocuses his attention to restabilizing Mel. Some people, including Robby, Mckay, Dana, and Javadi, look over to see what’s going on. “Woah, hey, what’s going on over there?” Robby asks from across the bar accusingly.
“Nothing! Just–Ugh–” Langdon turns his attention to Mel, “Mel, you okay? Sorry, I got some on your shirt–” Langdon grabs the napkin that Mel was using as a coaster and dabs up the stain on her chest quickly and efficiently. “Oh, um, that’s okay, I’m fine, obviously I’m fine,” Mel lets out an awkward laugh. “Hey, uh, look there’s a karaoke machine wanna–” Mel stops abruptly. She clasps her mouth and dashes to the restroom, she was about to vomit.
“Jesus–I’ll help her” Langdon says, chasing after Mel, paying little mind to the fact he’ll be going into a woman’s restroom. Barely anyone was here anyways.
“Poor girl,” Mckay says, and it’s the last thing Langdon hears before the swinging door to the woman’s restroom closes and it is instead replaced with the sound of an echoing vomit. Langdon quickly finds the stall Mel is in and the very first thing he does is pull back her hair, every golden strand.
“I got you, Mel, I got you…” Langdon says, rubbing her back with his other hand as she throws up, sobbing in between retches. He notices that Mel’s glasses were seemingly thrown on the ground, probably to keep it from falling in.
“I’m so–sniff–sorry” Mel says in a stuffy voice.
“Mel, it’s okay. Of course it’s okay, you didn’t do anything wrong. I think you pushed yourself too hard, and you drank too much in not a lot of time.”
A moment of silence passed as Mel crouched over the toilet bowl. Her body heaves up and down as she takes deep breaths whenever she has the chance. “No, I’m really sorry, you told me I–urk” more vomit. Mel pants over the bowl, and Langdon continues his rhythmic strokes on her back. “Shhh, Mel, it’s fine…”
After a brief moment of silence, Mel continues.“You told me I shouldn’t have…I should have listened to you.” Mel turns her head to look up at Langdon, and when their eyes meet, Langdon averts his gaze.
“...Mel.”
“Yeah?”
“I promise you it’s okay. The most important thing is how you’re feeling.” Mel looks down as well, then turns her head back towards the toilet. More silence. “...How’re you feeling now, Mel? Still nauseous?” Mel nods.
“I’m not gonna vomit anymore though, I think…”
“Alright then,” Langdon transfers all of Mel’s hair into one of his hands and with the other, he picks up Mel’s hand from the rim of the toilet. Mel flinches but doesn’t make any attempt to move away. Langdon carefully slides off the hair tie that was firmly gripping Mel’s wrist, the one that was previously holding her braid together. He releases Mel’s hand and uses the hair tie to tie her hair into a ponytail. “I always do this for Penny whenever I have her. She likes how tight I make them.” Once he finishes the ponytail, he promptly stands up and flushes the toilet full of vomit with his foot. “You need help getting up?” Mel nods. Langdon offers his hand and Mel takes it, shakily standing up. Langdon picks up Mel’s glasses and hands it back to her and she immediately puts them back on.
“Thank you.”
“Seriously, don’t worry about it. And uh, Mel…?”
Mel looks up at him quizzically. “Yes?”
“You uh…You live alone right?”
“Yes, why?”
As they exit the restroom, Langdon crosses his arms and looks at Mel directly. “So, no one to take care of you when you’re nauseous and/or hungover tomorrow morning? Yeah, that’s not happening.”
“I-I’m sorry, what– Langdon,”
“Oh, no, don’t worry, kids aren’t here. You won’t be bothered.” He smiles at her, knowing full and well that there was no way out of this for her. She had to let someone take care of her for once, one way or another.
“Langdon, I’ve taken care of myself my whole life and I take care of others all the time, I’m completely fine–”
“Oh, no, I’m sure you are more than capable, Dr. King,” he says with another smirk. “But that is exactly why I’m not going to let you carry even more responsibility for yourself. Let me do something for you, just this once.” As they re-enter the main bar lounge, the pair sees the rest of the staff exiting the bar. Langdon stops Dana to ask her about it, “are we done for the night?”
“Yup, sorry it’s so sudden. A lot of us old people are tired, all right?” She turns her attention towards Mel, who has her arm around Langdon’s neck for stability (He does have to lean down for her). “And how ‘bout you, sugarbug? How’re you holdin’ up?”
“B-better,” Mel responded, visibly embarrassed.
“Yeah,” Langdon clears his throat, “I’m gonna take her back to my place, keep an eye on her.” Dana gives him a look from under her glasses.
“You better not get any funny ideas,” she says. Langdon looks insulted.
“Wha– Dana, no, what’re you talking about? I’m not that kind of guy.”
“Okay,” she says, starting to leave, “But she better be in one piece next time I see her or else you’ve got another thing coming.”
“I’ll be fine, Dana,” Mel speaks up.
“See, Dana? Straight from the horse’s mouth,”
“Good night, Langdon,” Dana says, parting ways.
“I’m not a horse…” Mel tells Langdon. At this point everyone has left the bar, dispersing towards their individual cars, or motorcycle in Robby’s case.
“Yeah, I know, Mel. How about we get you in this car, alright?”
Mel opens the car door and slumps into the passenger seat. She is completely and utterly defeated, sinking her body into the cushion and closing her eyes. Langdon doesn’t want her to go out of her way when she’s this tired, so he pulls the seatbelt over Mel’s body and clicks it in to secure it. Langdon closes the door and gets ready to drive home. It’s not too far away, but a small part of Langdon wishes that it was so that he could drive Mel around more.
—
They reach Langdon’s house. “Alright, home sweet home.” Langdon looks over at Mel, to see she’s already fast asleep. He bites his lip, looking at how peaceful she looks asleep, her chest rising and falling with each gentle breath. He knows he can’t wake her now. He just hopes she’s a heavy sleeper.
Before doing anything, Langdon gets out of the car and preemptively unlocks and opens his front door. Then he goes back to his car, pops open the car door on Mel’s side, and prepares to pick her up. He unlocks her seatbelt, and slowly but carefully positions his hands underneath Mel, supporting her back and under her knees for a bridal style carry. He slowly lifts her from the car, a small groan escaping her mouth. Langdon slows his movements, so as to not wake her up, and closes his car door with his foot, not caring about dents.
As he walks inside, he thinks of where to put her. Or he pretends to. He already knows he can’t force her onto the couch or one of the kids’ beds. His bed it is. Of course, he wouldn’t be in there as well, that’s just crossing a line, especially when she’s sick. Not that he cared about Mel’s germs or something, it’s just that…
Langdon just doesn’t want to. Well, not that, but…
In the end, Langdon was going to end up sleeping on the couch. End of story. He places Mel down carefully on his bed, then pulling the blankets out from under her and then putting it on top of her, tucking her in. He takes the glasses off of her face, folds them and gently places them on his nightstand.
Considering the fact Langdon would have to sleep on the couch for today, he decided to grab a spare blanket from his closet. He opens the closet doors and tries to get a grip on the blanket, but it’s a bit high. “Gh–Can’t–Reach…” Suddenly, he’s able to pull it down, however some more bedding comes down with it, and it all lands on top of him with a fwump!
“Ow–” He rubs his head, slowly getting up.
“...Hm?” Uh-oh.
“Sorry, did that wake you?” Langdon asks Mel, who was abruptly awakened by his clumsiness.
“Uh, where’s my glasses?”
“Right here,” Langdon says, grabbing them for her and placing them in her hands. She could see pretty okay without glasses, but Langdon decided to spare her the extra struggle.
“Thanks,” Mel says, putting her glasses back on.
“Yeah, no problem. Actually, I’m glad you’re awake. There’s no way you can sleep in that,” Langdon gestures to her outfit, “especially not with the stain I gave your shirt…So, anyways, I can wash your clothes, and I’m sure I have some spare pajamas you can wear…” Langdon goes back to searching in the closet. He’s able to find a comfortable, baggy pair of blue plaid pajama pants and one of his T-shirts, a solid black. The thought of Mel wearing his clothes excited him a bit, but he made an effort not to let it show.
He clears his throat and turns back around. “Alright Mel, so here’s what we got–Woah, hey, what happened?” Langdon rushes to her side after he sees her crying for the second time this night.
“I-it’s just, you’re going so out of your way, Frank, and I-I just never–Never got to see how it feels to be on the other side.” Langdon maintains eye contact as he watches Mel stumble over her words. Trying not to ponder on the fact she used his first name for the very first time, he prompts her to continue instead.
“What do you mean? What other side?”
“I-I mean, what I mean is no one has ever taken care of me like this. Not since me and Becca were very very young.”
“Mel, I know you love your sister but you need to stop obsessing over her. It’s causing you to neglect your own health.”
“Yeah, I’m sorry, I know, no, I know, sorry…”
“No, I’m sorry. I know you’re going through a tough time. So how about you change into these, tell me if you need anything else, alright? You don’t have to worry anymore.”
“...Thank you, really. I guess besides all you’ve already given me, a glass of water would be nice…”
Langdon nods. She didn’t have to say another word. No matter what small whim Mel has, Langdon would fulfill it or die trying. “Alright. You change, and I’ll be back.” As Langdon leaves he dims the lights and clicks the lock on the door before he closes it to give her some privacy.
Eventually, the door to Langdon’s bedroom pops open and Mel lets him in as he hands her the glass of water. “For you, madame,” he says, handing it to her with an over-the-top bow. She smiles a toothy smile. So worth it.
“Thank you,” she says.
“Anytime. I’ll be on the couch if you need anything else, don’t be afraid to wake me.” Langdon starts to head out before Mel stops him.
“W-wait–” she says, grabbing his wrist. Langdon immediately stops.
“Y-yeah?” he says shakily.
“Please…Don’t leave me…Stay here…S-sleep here.” Mel’s request nearly made Langdon’s heart stop.
“Um…I–” While Langdon was trying to hide how flustered he was, he was actually proud of Mel for making a selfish request for once. And it was for him.
“I-If you don’t want to, you don’t have to–”
“No, I want to. I want to. I mean–That came out wrong–What I mean is…Uh…” Langdon tried to assure Mel, but the end result was both of them stood in Langdon’s bedroom, blushing and sweating, the awkward thrill coursing through the air in the room. “Just–Just let me change into my PJ’s, I’ll be back.” Langdon responds. Mel nods quickly, accompanied with an “Mm-hm” that makes Langdon’s heart race that much more. Langdon grabs a random pair of PJs as quick as he can and stumbles out of the room and into the bathroom to change. When the door closes, he lets out a shaky breath he didn’t know he was holding, and begins to undress. Usually he sleeps shirtless, just with a pair of pajama pants, but he wasn’t sure if that was something he nor Mel could handle today.
He walks back into the room to find Mel already tucked into bed, the blanket over her body and her head resting on his pillow. Cute. It looked like she belonged here. Right here, right now, in this room, under the covers, resting, waiting for Langdon. From his angle, Langdon couldn’t tell if her eyes were closed or not, so he decided to be cautious not to make any noise just in case she was sleeping. He walks over to the other side of the bed, carefully slipping under the shared blanket. Mel was facing the wall, so he decides to allow himself the treat of being able to face Mel’s back. His eyes trace it up and down, and he admires the way his shirt drapes off of her body. Their own scents combining into one made him too flustered that he had to look away from her, even when she was none the wiser.
“Mel?” Langdon whispers. No response. She must have fallen asleep by now. “...Rest well, Mel. You deserve it.” And with that final note, which Langdon hopes will creep into Mel’s subconscious, Langdon turns off the lamp, the sole source of light which was illuminating the room. They were now left in darkness, completely vulnerable to each other. Throughout the night, the two of them didn't move around too much. However, Langdon still couldn’t get much rest. How could he, when the woman he has been in love with since they first met was right here, within reach, in his bed, trusting him so much as to spend the night with him even though she drank until she dropped.
Knowing that Mel had this trust, Langdon knew not to betray it. He wanted to protect her from the horrors that had pushed her to drink that much. And so, he constricted his arm around her, looping it across her waist. She was asleep still, but her body responded by leaning into Langdon, letting him surround her like this. And then, and only then, would Langdon be able to fall asleep. And ever since that night, he could never rest well until she would be in his arms and under his covers again.