A/N - This part of Chapter 4 will actually be in 2 parts. It is all Melanie's point of view but I wanted her conversation with Bo to sort of stand alone before I go into the rest of her section. Besides you guys seem to like digestible chunks, and I am long winded. So I will post the second part of this a little later this evening.
Thanks for all the comments. I like that you guys still seem to be enjoying this trip. I hope you hang with me for the rest of the journey.
Our little discussions in the other thread, are getting very interesting. You guys are making me see things in new ways. I love it. I will post another discussion after I post the second part of this update. I have a few things I want to share, I think.
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Chapter 4 part 3Melanie poked her head out of Philip’s hospital room door, hoping to catch someone passing by. Right now she needed to find Chloe. She had crossed a line with her husband, and Melanie wasn’t going to let her get away with it again. With Marcel gone, Melanie had no one to be with Philip, she didn’t like leaving him alone for very long. And Melanie had a feeling that her little chat with Chloe would take quite awhile. For the first time, she actually missed the guards outside the door. At least then she could have had one of them sit with Philip while she went off and handled other things.
It had been months since the guards were posted at his door. Victor’s legal team had managed to get an injunction requiring that all media professionals remain across the street from the hospital. It had been a bit of a circus at first, when Philip first was brought in. Word of the accident had made the nightly news and within hours reporters were crammed in the hospital lobby hoping to get a glimpse of the Kiriakis heir. They heard the words critically injured and they were drooling, hoping to be the first to send the scoop back to their offices. They were like vultures, circling around waiting for Philip to take a turn for the worse. Not that Melanie really remembered the frenzy at the hospital that night. She only could see Philip, bloody and pale, barely breathing. He stopped breathing twice on the way to the hospital, Melanie willing him to breathe as the paramedics tried to revive him.
Melanie went over to the nurses’ station, hoping to maybe page Maxine and ask her to help for a little while. Maxine had been so supportive of Melanie during these past months, tending to Philip’s needs when Melanie couldn’t be there. She knew she could count on Maxine to sit with Philip, but she hated asking. She was starting to feel guilty about all the leaning she had been doing lately.
Bo Brady stepped off the elevator, in black jeans, a blue plaid shirt, topped with navy sport coat. His face brightened into a smile when he saw Melanie, waving quickly to catch her attention.
“Bo I’m glad you’re here,” said Melanie walking to meet him at the elevator doors. “Can you go in and sit with Philip?”
“Uh, well Melanie, I don’t know,” he hesitated. “I may get called away.
What’s going on?”
“Victor fired Marcel.”
“Not another one,” he groaned.
“Yep, and I have to work for a few hours. I only could find someone to cover the second half of my shift. I don’t want to leave him.” She was hoping a little guilt would help persuade him.
“I’m not sure if I can,” he said rubbing the back of his head in obvious discomfort.
“I wouldn’t have asked if it weren’t important. I called Kate. She’ll be here in an hour. So it wouldn’t be that long. I’m desperate,” she pleaded as she walked him closer to Philip’s room door.
“Hey Uncle Bo,” said Stephanie suddenly joining them. “Melanie,” she added barely looking in her direction.
“Hi Steph,” responded Bo with a smile.
Melanie examined her nails as Stephanie spoke. “So where’s Parker? You two usually are out here hanging out.”
“He’s with Maggie,” said Melanie before Bo could reply. “I had class today.”
“Oh. I was hoping to see Philip,” she said running her hand through her long brown hair. “Got in the new Sports Illustrated,” she said holding up the magazine for them to see. “I thought Philip might like to hear about the pre-season Cubs predictions.”
“Stephanie that would be great,” said Melanie perking up. Stephanie actually was proving to be useful for a change. “I’m sure he would love it.”
“Great. I’ll go in right now. Bye Uncle Bo.”
“See ya, Stephanie,” said Bo as she left. “Things seemed a little frosty between you two. I thought you were getting along,” said Bo as he turned his attention back to Melanie.
“That was us getting along,” Melanie shrugged.
“So nothing brewing there because of Nathan?”
“Nathan and I are friends. If Stephanie has a problem with that too bad, I’ve got bigger things to deal with than her issues.”
“That’s sort of why I dropped by. I heard about what happened in court.”
“Who hasn’t?” Melanie picked at the hem of her nurse’s uniform shirt. She was getting weary of all this Chloe talk.
“Seemed like it was pretty bad. Are you all right?”
“Yeah,” she replied smiling halfheartedly. “She didn’t manage to actually get her hands around my throat.”
“I guess your testimony set her off.” Bo took a seat in the waiting area near the nurses’ station.
“Is this the part where yet another person lectures me about being too hard on poor Chloe?”
“You know me better than that Melanie. I’m not going to judge you for how you feel.”
“You’re like the only one. Everyone thinks I’m heartless,” she sighed plopping down in the chair next to him.
“Well not everyone can relate to it the way I can. I think about when Hope was sick sometimes. She tried to kill me, she was assaulting men on the street, and all the while she was living with Ciara. I can’t believe I left my little girl in such a dangerous position.”
“You didn’t know,” she said softly.
“I knew something was off. I just didn’t say anything. I didn’t think I had the right because of what I did with Carly.”
“Like I thought people would think I was just causing trouble for Chloe because I was upset she slept with Philip. I can totally understand.”
“So kiddo, no judgments from me. All you can do is the best you can to keep Parker safe. And we just have to pray his parents will get better soon.” He squeezed her hand reassuringly.
“I’m doing all I can for Philip. I’m going to talk to his doctors about the possibility of deep brain stimulation treatments for him. They are making strides in that area. It would involve some surgery, but it could be something,” she said her voice spiking hopefully.
“I hope it is, because my baby brother has been stuck in that bed long enough. I keep thinking that maybe if I had done – “
“Don’t even think like that Bo,” she said quickly cutting him off. “We’ve both agreed it gets us nowhere.”
“I just want this all to be over.” He ran his hand through his short dark hair, leaning forward in his chair to stare at the floor.
“Keep up those positive thoughts. We can’t give up on him.”
“How’s he really doing? Any change?” he asked glancing in her direction.
“Not really,” she sighed. “Oh I did let his beard grow super long like the guys in that ZZ Top album you made me play for him. Still not convinced Philip actually likes them by the way,” she added playfully.
“I used to play them for him when he was little. He likes it. Trust me.” A smile suddenly broke upon his face, as if he were picturing young Philip rocking out to ZZ Top.
“Now he looks like a member of the band. You should check it out,” she said lightly gesturing toward the room with her hand.
“Tempting,” he smirked. “Even though I know you’re making it up.”
“I absolutely am,” she giggled.
He leaned his elbow on his knee, resting his chin in his palm. “I know I should be going in there. It’s been months and months but I just can’t handle seeing him like that.”
“He’s not on all those machines anymore. He just looks like he’s sleeping,” she replied hoping that somehow her words would put Bo more at ease.
“I know. But I don’t want to see him like that. It’s bad enough every time I close my eyes I see him trapped in that damn car,” he said his eyes reddened with barely concealed emotion.
“Me too,” she said softly, again seeing his face in her mind. The last little smile before the dark swallowed him whole only to spit him out bloody and broken.
“My brother was active, he fidgeted and paced. He always had something to say, always had a smart ass comment. My brother didn’t sit still. I feel like it’s not him in there.”
“It’s still him Bo,” she assured him patting him gently on the shoulder. “He’s just resting. All those surgeries.”
“Do you think he’s disappointed in me?” he asked her, his voice choked with pain. “He must be so upset I haven’t been to visit.”
“I think he understands. I tell him every time you’re just outside the door spending time with Parker. You may not go inside, but you’re here just as much as the rest of us.”
Twice a week at 5pm like clockwork Bo had what he called ‘guy time’ with Parker. Seated in the waiting area outside of Philip’s door, Bo would play with Parker, tell him stories about his father, and give him a bottle, while Melanie spent the last few hours of the evening with Philip. Bo would never actually come inside Philip’s room, but he never missed those evenings spent outside his door.
Before Parker was born, Bo would come by the hospital daily, to get updates from Melanie, and to pass along music or movies that he wanted Philip to have. Melanie gladly played go between for the brothers. It was the next best thing to Bo actually sitting with Philip. She made sure Philip knew that Bo hadn’t forgotten him, and was still with him every step of the way. Like they all were.
“I’m so glad my brother married you,” he said with a small smile.
“You always say that,” she said uncomfortably, embarrassed that Bo would bring this up again. If he knew all the ways she had hurt Philip, he wouldn’t be so approving of her.
She sometimes felt like a hypocrite when she was around Philip’s family. They all saw her as his brokenhearted victim, battling back to forgive him in the face of overwhelming odds. She wondered if they knew about how she had betrayed him on their wedding day.
“I mean it. You’re not only taking care of him, and Parker, but all of us too.”
“I’m no saint Bo. Especially since I’m the one that put him in that bed in the first place.”
“You’ve got to let that go. It will eat you alive if you don’t. I was there that night. You fought like hell for Philip. You never quit on him.”
“Anyone would have done the same.” She shrugged.
“I’m not so sure about that. I don’t think I would’ve lasted.”
“Even if it were Hope or Ciara?”
“I don’t know. I’d like to think I would. But look at what happened – “
“You would,” she interrupted. “You’d do anything to keep them safe. They’re your world.”
“He’s beyond lucky and he almost screwed it all up. When he wakes up I’m going to remind him everyday just how much he could have lost when he messed around with Chloe.” She shifted uncomfortably at the mention of Chloe’s name.
The ease in which everyone associated him with Chloe, made Melanie sick. It was bad enough the whole world knew that her husband had slept with Chloe and fathered a child, but lately it seemed like even the family had stopped walking on eggshells about the subject. They all seemed to think that Melanie was beyond what happened with Philip and Chloe. She wasn’t. She may have forgiven Philip, but Chloe would never be able to rectify her actions.
“I don’t care about any of that Bo. He could wake up blaming me for everything and I wouldn’t care. I just want him to come back to me.”
“That’s never going to happen. My brother loved you more than anything. He told me that. You don’t have to worry about him waking up hating you or not wanting you. I think after all of this you two will have earned your fairytale.”
Melanie hoped Bo was right, because she was ready for this horror story they had been living to end.
Next update - Melanie goes to confront Chloe.
