"It's hard to tell who has your back, from who has it long enough to stab you in it." - Nicole Richie
The Daughter
"There you go Diana." I smiled, setting the cup of tea down on the bed-tray across her lap.
"Ah wonderful sweetheart," She reached for my face and I smiled, my eyes fluttering closed as she held my face and kissed my forehead.
"It's such a pleasure to see you." She said satisfactorily, letting me go so I could sit my heavily pregnant self down on the seat next to her bed.
"Likewise Diana, I'm so sorry I haven't been able to visit as often as previously." I sighed regrettably, taking ahold of my own cup of tea and looking into the liquid guiltily.
"Oh nonsense, Melanie, it hasn't been that long since last time." She laughed, shaking her head and sipping at her tea, sighing happily.
"Ah, nobody can make a cup of tea as good as you can." She grinned and I smiled proudly at her compliment.
"That's because you don't know any other pure British person who can make a pure British cup of tea." I joked and she laughed, nodding her head.
"That much is true. I hope you're teaching Spencer how to make tea as good as you."
I paused and pulled a funny face, making her chuckle in agreement.
"Well, I'm trying, but it's not as easy as it sounds," I joked and we both laughed.
"More so because I barely get to see Spencer as much as I used to..." I said a little more seriously, staring off into my tea again.
"Nonsense," She said brusquely, reaching forward and gesturing for my hand. Happily and smiling I gave it to her, her soft and wrinkled fingertips smoothing over my knuckles as she held my hand firmly along with my eyes.
"I have never seen a couple more in love than the pair of you last week," She told me truthfully while staring deep into my eyes; my stomach dropping and rolling along with my heart as I heard her words wash over me.
"The way you looked at each other..." She smiled and shook her head, her eyes clouding over happily.
"I'm so proud of my Spencer falling in love with a lady such as yourself, Melanie. And I am so thankful that you're giving my son the one thing he's longed for since he was a child himself." My eyes teared up and I dropped my gaze to my lap, my left hand shaking holding my tea.
I didn't care if I spilt the burning hot liquid onto my legs; that was a faraway thought as I recalled the last time I'd sat in front of Diana with Spencer, the two of us; us three so serious and worried as her condition deteriorated.
That day was not last week.
I was merely months pregnant at that time.
Nevertheless, I kept up appearances and played along with the charade that I have spent every Thursday with Diana for the past two months since her health began slowly picking up from the treacherous plunge it had taken upon her pneumonia diagnosis.
I knew I couldn't tell her about Hart; I couldn't share my worries or feelings for what good would it do?
Diana was finally getting better; her medication was settling her levels and her mind was settling into a - debatable - normality which it had strived to achieve for months now.
Who was I to set an uproar within her mind after it working so hard for balance?
I enjoyed spending time with her again; realising how much I'd missed her and our giggles together.
Don't get me wrong; it broke my heart to hear of her "recalling" our jokes and time together the weeks previous, but I played along because I loved her like she was my mother, and I knew how vital it was to keep her mental stability simply that.
My hands began shaking however as I checked the visitors log with a sickening gulp and left the sanitarium and sat behind the wheel of my car.
"Melanie my sweet little buttercup flower! What can I do you for my sweet-pea?" Penelope's happy and chirpy voice was too much for my emotional state and I slammed my hand over my mouth, working hard to move the lump in my throat as tears sprouted in my eyes.
"Melanie? Hello?" I could hear the panic seeping into Penelope's voice and I desperately cleared my throat, blinking the tears from my eyes making them roll down my cheeks.
"I need your help, Garci." I choked.
"Are you okay? Is it the baby? God, you're not in labour are you? Oh poop Mel where are you, I'll come get you?"
"No, no, the baby and I are fine Pen, I promise. I just..." I gulped the lump out of my throat and decided that this was best done in person.
"I need to see a familiar face, I'm coming into the office." I admitted, slowly started the car and peeling out of the car park.
"Okaaay..." She dragged the word out, still not fully convinced. "I'll put the tea on shall I?" She asked precariously.
"Yes, please... I won't be long."
The Crazy Aunt
I paced my office, vocally rhyming out all of the possible things that could've happened to Mel that would make her so upset.
My heart had plummeted and I'd immediately thought the worst when I'd heard her broken voice on the other end of the phone.
I'd immediately located her via her GPS and discovered she was outside Spencer's mom's sanitarium and I couldn't help but think Diana's condition had worsened.
But, she would've told me in order to notify Spencer and the team in that case...
I hated not being in the loop; hated being the one left behind at the start of every new case, worrying and wondering what was happening to my loved ones. I reminded myself of a soldier's wife; stuck at home during the war wondering if her loved ones were ever going to return to her.
This situation was no different and I panicked over what could possibly have happened to my Melanie which I couldn't protect her from.
Abruptly there were two sharp knocks on my door and I jolted, knowing immediately who it was from her authoritative knock.
"Melanie!" I squealed in relief and hurried to the door, throwing it open and wrapping my arms around her in a tight squeeze; unable to get too close due to her mahoosive bump.
"Wow!" I grinned, pulling back and peering at the gigantic bump between us.
"Looks like my little niece or nephew is seriously doing some growing!" I laughed, gently placing a hand on her protruding belly. I hadn't seen her in a few days and so much had changed already.
"I can't believe the size of you. You still have an entire month to go!" I gushed and Mel nodded with a small smile.
But I could see through that smile; could see the tears in her eyes and practically feel her forcing the lump out of her throat.
"Come sit down honey, you look how I feel!" I gushed, ushering her over to my desk and setting her down on one of the spinning seats.
"Gee thanks Garci." She smirked and I smiled, fanning the air as I said,
"Now don't worry we have plenty of time to catch up as Spencer and the others are on their way back from L.A right now and they won't be here for ages yet,"
I plopped into the seat opposite her, passing her a cup of tea.
"Now spill," I demanded before realising what I'd just said and shaking my head. "Except not the tea, don't spill the tea, I don't want you getting hurt, or worse, hurting that beautiful little baby in there, or even worse still, my own babies, I mean do you know how much these shoes cost?!"
I realised I was babbling, I knew that; it was a defense mechanism, I hated hearing bad news and I knew that whatever it was Melanie wanted to talk about, was not good.
"It's okay Garci, I know what you meant..." She heaved a sigh; finding my rambling far from funny.
"Right," I nodded. "Sorry, of course. Yes." I nodded, wringing my hands merely wanting her to jump in and tell me what it was she wanted to rather than let me ramble on.
There was a long pause then, filled with nothing but the sound of me thinking of what to say to fill the silence.
"I went to see Diana today..." She began, looking deep into her cup of untouched tea.
"Oh? Really? How's she doing? Is she okay? How's the pneumonia? When was the last time you went to see her? It's been a while, hasn't it? You poor thing, it must've been hard being unable to go see her because of the baby."
"Garci..." She warned and I snapped my mouth shut.
"Right, sorry... Carry on..."
"She thought I'd been to see her last week... She talked about how in love Spencer and I were and how happy she is that we're so happy together... I haven't been to see her in months, Penelope... She wasn't talking about me..."
She looked up at me after a silent pause, as if giving me permission to speak.
"Does Spencer know her condition is getting worse? I mean... her... her mind?"
"Her mind isn't getting worse, Garci... Her schizophrenia is under control like never before... She's of sound mind - or near enough... She's just getting confused."
"Well, then that'd make two of us... How is she getting confused Mel when you haven't been to the sanitarium in so long?"
"Because someone else has been."
"Yeah, Spencer but-"
"I think he's been seeing Hart behind my back." She blurted and my mouth fell open.
A lengthy pause stretched out between us; my heartbeat thudding in my chest as I stared at her serious expression; knowing she wasn't mad or crazy, she was serious and she was hurting.
"Why?" I whispered, asking for the evidence behind her theory.
"I checked the visitor logs," She gulped, avoiding my eyes. "Hart's been there almost every other day... Sometimes when Spencer's there... Mostly when he isn't... His cloud account was still signed in on our laptop... She's been messaging him too."
"You read his messages?" I gasped.
"No!" She gushed desperately. "I was looking at wedding things and the message just popped up!"
"Was it..." I gulped, dreading to think. "Dirty...?"
She sighed and shook her head, chewing on her lip as she looked down at her hands on her lap.
"No but... once a cheater, always a cheater, right?" She shrugged, her thumb running around the rim of her cup.
"But Spencer isn't-"
"He was cheating on Dylan," She blurted again. "With me," She added a little quieter. "We were seeing each other behind her back for months."
I thought about it; thinking about the timeline, letting my gut and my mind fit everything into place and realised that I'd been right this entire time.
"Melanie..." I said in a serious and slightly angry tone. "I can't believe you would do something like that." I said in shock.
"I'm not proud of it... I'm not happy with it either... It was only a couple times, and then I swear to you when it happened again I thought they'd split up... He... He told me they were separated. I didn't... I didn't know he'd do something like that either. I swear to you Garci." She turned her tearful eyes onto mine and I knew that Mel wouldn't set out to hurt someone like that after all the hurt she'd been put through herself.
"So," I licked my lips, swallowed hard and blinked my thoughts clear. "You think Spencer's cheating on you because he was cheating on Dylan?" I confirmed and she nodded her head.
"Not just that but he was so late to one of the baby scans... It was a couple of months ago but he said Hart just turned up at the sanitarium and he couldn't get away..." I looked at her questioningly and she nodded her head.
"I've challenged him about it and he said that she's the one texting him and just talking to him, but..." She trailed off and I sighed.
"It's okay..." I nodded my head, moving in my chair next to her and putting an arm around her shoulder, taking a deep breath.
"Also, when we were with the wedding planner, he was distracted and his phone kept ringing... He's never fully present with me anymore and... I have to know..." She turned her sad round eyes onto mine.
"I have to know if he's really seeing her behind my back, Garci... I have to know what I'm getting myself into."
"Mel..." I sighed and shook my head. "You're already in it, sweetie. You're marrying him and you're having his baby in a matter of weeks..."
She whimpered and I realised my words maybe weren't the best to say.
"Okay so, are you sure knowing is really going to help you?"
"No!" She gushed. "No, I know it won't help me. But it'll certainly make me feel better when I smack his face and put a bullet between her eyes!"
"Mel..." I sighed, rubbing her arm and she pulled herself out from under my arm.
"Please Garci. I need to know."
"What?" I asked in confusion before the penny dropped. "Wait you want me to hack his cell-phone?"
"No," She shook her head. "I want you to tell me if he's cheating on me with my old PA."
I chewed on my lip, mulling it over, trying to decide if it was really the best thing to do.
When I looked back at her, I knew I couldn't say no. She was my best friend and she was standing before me; eight months pregnant; asking to tell her that her fiancé was not cheating on her.
I wheeled over to the keyboard and done my thing, holding my breath the entire time.
The Daughter
"Melanie!" Penelope's voice followed me as I stormed from her office with my phone pressed to my ear.
But just as I rounded the corner into the long corridor, I realised there was no need for the phone call after all.
I hung up and smirked as I watched her meet my eyes and do a distinct "U-turn" to avoid me.
"Ainsley!" I hollered. "Wait up! I want to talk to you a sec!" I called, waving her down the corridor as I heard Penelope's heels hurrying behind me.
Hart turned back to me and slowly began making her way down the corridor to me.
Now, why was she on the sixth floor?
"What's wrong Melanie?" Hart asked as we both walked towards each other.
I stormed, my strides large and my face set. She strolled, slow and hesitant.
Smack!
The instant I got within a foot of her, my hand collided with her face.
"Melanie!" Garcia gasped behind me as Morgan and my dad called out from the elevator on my right.
"You sleazy bitch." I spat as Hart held her face in complete shock.
"What's going on?" My dad demanded as Morgan hurried by my side. I pushed him away as he reached out to touch my arm.
"Ask her." I spat, throwing my hand in the direction of Hart as she cowered away from me.
"What's happening?" Emily asked, looking around in confusion.
I marched to Spencer and grabbed his phone from the front pocket.
"Melanie what is going on?" My dad demanded angrily.
"Sir, I'm sorry..." Garcia mumbled.
"Melanie please." Spencer whimpered as I took the phone from his bag. "What're you doing? Don't do this." He begged as I gained access to his phone and entered his text messages.
The first message on the screen was a naked picture of Hart which Rossi, JJ, Emily and my dad all seen due to their close proximity of us.
They all gasped in unison.
I marched back to Hart and thrust the phone into her face.
"You ought to be ashamed of yourself," I spat. "Constantly harassing and texting an engaged soon-to-be-dad when clearly he isn't interested!"
"Oh, he was interested, alright," She sneered, grinning wickedly showing blood between her teeth.
"He's clearly deleted the messages." She smirked.
"Why are you lying?" I demanded, shaking my head as Morgan carefully took Spencer's phone out of my hand, trying to observe what all of the fuss was about.
"Do you really think I'd be so stupid as to not look for deleted messages. I mean, c'mon," I laughed, gesturing to Garcia. "I have the best technical analyst in the States, if those messages existed, I'd find them."
Hart blinked at me, desperately trying to find an excuse.
"It's clear you're trying to cause something here, Hart," JJ said confidently. "You should leave."
"Oh, don't worry, she's leaving," I said adamantly. "Consider yourself transferred."
"What?" She gasped and I turned to walk away, guilt swallowing me as I remembered the anger I'd had for Spencer, so unnecessarily considering Hart had clearly been playing him to get to me.
"As of tomorrow, you're back in New York." I explained as I approached Spencer.
I wasn't sure what happened then, but within a few moments, Spencer had gently pushed me to the side and then Hart was on the floor.
I spun on my heel and turned to see her several feet away, on the floor, staring up at Spencer.
"Leave," He said in a shaky voice. "You've tried to cause enough damage here."
She'd tried to attack me from behind and Spencer had stepped in the way, shoving her before she could touch me.
I gulped.
I should've believed him when he said she was stalking him.