<USS Avalon> "A Call Away"

"A Call Away"
By: Melanie Redgrave and Elijah Dareth
 
Elijah hurriedly dressed and tossed some clothes into a bag.  Trinity  had 
woke him up, telling him of a message from Melanie.  "I don't wanna be  alone 
after all.  Can you come see me?" was all that it said.  If he  had been 
worried 
before, he was crazy with worry now.  He gave Trin and  Liza a quick kiss 
goodbye, promising to let them know what was happening and  that he'd try to be 
back.  
 
He transported directly to the hotel that he had Melanie's reservations  
made.  The hotel desk clerk, however, was being less than  cooperative.  He 
didn't 
remember Melanie's room number and they wouldn't  give it to him.
 
"Look," he tried to explain calmly, "my girlfriend is staying here.   Her 
name is Melanie Redgrave.  She sent me a note this morning, asking me  to meet 
her here and something is obviously wrong or she would've remembered to  give 
me 
the room number."
 
The desk clerk looked bored.  "I'm sorry, sir, but it's against policy  to 
give out room numbers.  For security reasons."
 
Elijah sighed and tried again a little more calmly, "Could you call her  
then?  Ask her if she's expecting me?"  He was gritting his teeth to  keep from 
biting the clerk's head off.
 
"Of course," she smiled brightly.  "I'd be happy to."
 
The comm in Melanie's room beeped. 
 
Melanie looked oddly at the comm unit as she walked over to it. She  accepted 
the call from the front desk but as audio only. She looked like  something 
the cat dragged in and scared the hell out of the dog with. “Yes?” 
 
“Miss Redgrave there’s a young man here asking for you.” 
 
It took a moment before Melanie realized who the desk clerk was talking  
about but as soon as she did she smiled a little. She wondered why Elijah 
didn’t  
just come up to the room but then remembered she hadn’t sent the room number  
“
Damn I knew I forgot something.. He’s ok to come up.”
 
The clerk gave Elijah the number and in his rush to get to Melanie, he  
forgot to say thank you.  He hurried up the steps and knocked on her  door.  
"Melanie?"
 
Hearing Elijah’s voice made Melanie forget all about looking like hell and  
for the briefest of moments about her emotions. She went to the door and opened 
 it and no sooner did he step inside the door Melanie threw her arms around 
him  and buried her face in his chest.
 
 Elijah wrapped his arms tightly around her and maneuvered them inside  the 
room so he could close the door.  With privacy ensured, he kissed the  top of 
her head while stroking her hair.  "I'm glad to see you too," he  quipped half 
heartedly.  "Mel, sweetheart, what is it?"
 
It felt good to be held and it was a bit of an inward struggle for Melanie  
to let go of him. She took his hand and lead him over to the small couch near  
the window and sat down. She waited until he was sitting next to her before 
she  told him what had happened. “I talked to Georgia. She told me everything 
and  then sent me what she couldn’t explain. I know the truth now, Eli. I 
know 
who I  was and how I ended up who I am. It was my fault we were on that 
outpost, Eli.  It’s no wonder my sister wanted to forget me.”
 
Elijah saw her tentative grasp on her emotions, they were so fresh and  raw.  
He reached for her again and waited for her to settle into his chest  before 
responding.  "You wanna explain that?  You weren't even a year  old, Melanie, 
it can't be your fault." 
 
“Celeste was on that outpost because we were heading back to Earth.”  
Melanie said in a hushed whisper. It was almost as if she were scared of being  
overheard, or rather that she was afraid of hearing herself say it. “I’d 
been  
really sick and she had to take me to DS3. We were on our way back and our  
transport had to pick up someone. We were laid over at the outpost when the  
Romulans attacked.”
 
"And out of the hundreds of people to potentially blame, you choose  
yourself?  Melanie, listen to me," he turned her a little to face him, "I'm  
not 
trying to sound uncompassionate... that's the farthest from the truth.   I just 
think you're still a little too hurt to see this logically right  now.  Why 
don't 
you tell me what you found out and leave the blaming  yourself for later?"  
His words were spoken quietly and with the best  intentions, hoping not to 
upset her further. 
 
There was so much swimming around in her head that Melanie didn’t know  where 
to start, other then with blaming herself. She looked at Elijah for a long  
moment and then after what seemed forever, she got up from the couch and walked 
 over to where she’d left the box Georgia had sent. She picked up the picture 
of  her infant self, her mother and Skyler. She handed it to Elijah before 
sitting  next to him again. 
 
“According to the dates on the holovids that were with that picture I was  
around three months old in it. Georgia sent me a bunch of pictures and holovids 
 
from the time I was born until I was around eight months old. That’s when I 
came  down with some strange strain of some Betazoid virus.” She told him as 
he 
looked  down at the picture. “Everything went wrong when I got sick.”
 
 "Beautiful family," he commented.  "So then what happened?" 
 
Melanie took back the picture and traced the faces on it. “We had to go to  
DS3 to see a doctor. I had some damned illness kids never got. I guess it was  
life threatening. We all went but Celeste sent Georgia and Skyler back after a 
 few weeks. When I was better we were on our way home.” Fresh tears rolled 
down  Melanie’s cheeks. “Celeste and Sunni never made it home to Skyler and 
 
Georgia.”
"Sunni?"
 
“It was a nick name for Soliel.” Melanie said as she pointed to the baby in 
 
the picture. “Skyler was her sky and Soliel her sun. Kinda appropriate for a  
woman who’s name means stars.”  
 
Elijah smiled, "That's really pretty."  He reached up and wiped at  some of 
the tear smudges on her cheek.  "Are you feeling any better now  that you have 
your answers?  Even if they weren't really what you were  hoping for?  Or 
maybe they were...I don't really know what you were  expecting.  I'm sorry.  
I'm 
talking again, when I should just be  listening.  Not a lot of help, I'm 
afraid."
 
Melanie smiled. “Your a wonderful help to me, Eli. That’s why I asked for  
you.” Leaning in Melanie kissed Elijah on the cheek before leaning against 
him. 
 “I don’t really know what I was hoping for either. I’m glad I have my 
answers  and I do somehow feel as if I’ve found that missing piece. But it 
still 
hurts  only in a different way now. I mean before I was just a lost soul who 
got 
lucky  enough to be found by parents who loved me as their own.” Pausing, 
Melanie  looked down at the picture and traced the image of Skyler. “But now, 
now 
I know  I was loved and it’s like I’m grieving for something I lost, for 
parents that I  lost, for what I lost between me and Skyler. I’m afraid 
I’ll 
never see that  spark of love in her eyes again. The one she has when she’s 
signing ’you are my  sunshine’ to me.. or at least to who I was.”
 
 "Well, I don't know about her singing to you, but give her  time.  I 
wouldn't be surprised if a big part of her is looking for that  same connection 
you 
are."  He reached over and hugged her again.  "So  have you thought about your 
next move yet?  Are you going back to talk with  Georgia?  Would you rather 
come home with me for a bit?  I bet mom  would love to baby you for awhile.  Or 
do you want me to take you to your  home?  I wouldn't stay or anything..." 
 
Melanie thought about it for awhile. She liked how safe she felt with  Elijah 
and that scared her, but that would have to wait to be dealt with.  Finally 
after taking a breath she said, “Would you come to see Georgia with me?  Then 
we can go back so you can finish your visit with your family. I feel so bad  
for taking you from them. Then we can go to London. I’m not sure yet how to  
explain all of this to my Mum.”
 
 "Of course I will.  And my family wasn't enjoying my visit  anyway...I was 
too distracted thinking about you," he admitted.  "I'd love  to go meet 
Georgia." 
 
“Oh Eli! I’m so sorry! I never meant to ruin your shore leave.”
 
"Melanie, sweetheart, I didn't mean it like that.  I was trying to let  you 
know how much I was worried about you.  About...how much I've come to  care for 
you.  You've not ruined my shoreleave.  If I hadn't met up  with you, I may 
have just set on that ship and done nothing."  He looked  into her eyes hoping 
that she believed him.
Melanie smiled a little and then  leaned in and kissed Elijah. It amazed her 
how simple and wonderful it was to do  that. When she pulled away from him she 
blushed a little. “I care about you too,  Eli.”
 
"Good, so you'll get the notion out of your head that you messed anything  up 
for me, right?  I've enjoyed spending time with you more than I could  tell 
you." 
 
“With everything that’s been going on with me, Eli, you’ve been a god  
send.”
 She told him as she caressed his cheek with her finger tips. “And as soon  
as I see Georgia we’ll get back to having a good time.” Melanie got to her 
feet  quickly and smiled down at the slightly younger man who she found herself 
liking  more and more. “Give me a few minutes to look less like a mental case 
and then  we’ll head over to Eliza Mae’s to see Georgia.” Melanie leaned 
down 
and kissed  the top of Elijah’s head and then turned to go into the bathroom, 
but she paused  just outside the door before going in and warned him. “Just 
don
’t ask who made  the pecan pie.”

Other related posts: