The day of John's funeral was a tough one for Melanie and Sade. If Melanie had a choice, she wouldn't have gone, but Sadie deserved to say a proper 'goodbye' to her father and Melanie knew she had to be there for her. Right of the bat that morning Sadie was crying and frustrated, not sure if she wanted to go to the funeral as a boy for a girl. As a compromise, Melanie convinced Sadie to wear a suit to the funeral and burial, and then a dress at the reception. Melanie had purchased both of those things for Sadie in the event that Sadie couldn't decide which gender to be that day. Sadie agreed to this compromise, but that didn't make the day any easier on her.
Melanie told Chris he didn't have to come, but he insisted on being there for them. Chris arrived at the funeral home earlier than the other guests, knowing Melanie and Sadie would be there early. He spots her and walks up to her with his hands behind his back.
"Hey." He says.
Melanie turns to face Chris, "Hey."
Chris pulls out a bouquet of yellow tulips from behind his back.
Melanie sighs, "Chris, you shouldn't have."
"Well, I may be an enthusiast of the color black, but I figured you might be seeing a lot of it today, so you might need something to brighten your day."
Melanie manages and smile and takes the flowers, "Thank you." She says before hugging him. When they come apart, Melanie's eyes widen.
"Oh! I remember what I wanted to ask you. You know how to tie a tie, right?"
"Yeah."
"Can you go help Sadie? She's downstairs in the lounge."
"Yeah, sure."
"Thanks."
Chris nods and walks off. The funeral home had a small lounge downstairs where small snacks could be set out or where guests could get away from all of the crying and sadness for a little while.
Chris walks down and finds Sadie downstairs, sitting on the couch with her head down. She wore a black jacket and dress shirt, as well as black slacks and black dress shoes. A blue and black tie hung around her neck, untied. It didn't quite go with the outfit, but her black beanie rest on her head as well, her red curls hiding beneath it.
"Hey." Chris says.
Sadie looks up at Chris, eyes watering.
Chris sighs and kneels down, "C'mere, kiddo."
Sadie hops off the couch and rushes towards Chris without any hesitation, colliding with him and crying. Chris holds her close to him and rubs her back a moment, not saying anything.
Sadie breaks the embrace and sniffles, "W-Will you help me with my tie?"
"Of course."
They walk over to the couch and sit on it.
"You look very handsome today." Chris says.
"Thanks." Sadie whispers, looking down again.
"Now, let's fix this tie. Here, I'll show you how to do it. You look very dashing today and should definitely wear suits more often."
Sadie actually manages a smile and looks up at Chris, "Really?"
"Of course! But a lot of the time, the thing that really sets off a great suit is the tie, so you should definitely know how to tie one. It's not that hard, just watch me."
Melanie walks down a moment later to make sure everything was okay, then finds Chris teaching Sadie how to tie a tie. Sadie actually seemed to be listening very intently and paying close attention to what Chris was telling her.
"And then you tighten it like that, see?" Chris asks.
Sadie nods, "Yeah, I get it."
"Think you can do that?"
"I think so."
"Here, I have an idea." Chris says, undoing his tie, "We'll try together on mine so you can see what it's like."
Melanie smiles. Even on the most devastating days, Chris managed to somehow make things happy.
Chris and Sadie finish tying Chris' tie and he smiles, "There, see? You did it."
Melanie then makes herself known, "Am I interrupting?"
"No, of course not." Chris says.
Melanie sits down with them and puts Sadie on her lap, "How are you doing, sweetie?"
"Okay, I guess."
"Well, it's going to be kind of a long day and we're not going to have very many breaks in between. There's snacks down here, why don't you eat something?"
Sadie nods, "Okay. I'm gonna use the bathroom first though."
Sadie hops off of Melanie's lap and walks over to the bathrooms that were in the lounge. She then stops, as if to be thinking.
"No one's here, kiddo. You can use the boys' bathroom if you want to." Chris says.
Sadie pauses a moment more, then nods to herself and goes into the men's room.
Melanie exhales and turns to Chris, "Thank you so much."
"Of course. How are you holding up?"
"Well, unlike you, I don't really live the 'everyday is a funeral' lifestyle. This just sucks."
"Are a lot of people coming?"
"As far as I know."
"Will Sadie be okay?"
"I don't know. I mean, it's her father's funeral for the love of God."
"I didn't mean just that."
"What do you mean then?"
"Well, I know John's mom is dead, but is his dad going to be here? What about his other relatives? Do they have the same...views as John? Are any of John's past clients coming? Will Sadie be safe walking around here in a suit and tie?"
"Shit." Melanie hisses, "I didn't even think of that."
"Sorry, I didn't mean to worry you more."
"No, it's okay. You're actually right."
"Look, you've got enough of your own problems to worry about. You focus on those and I'll stand by Sadie to make sure she's okay."
Melanie nods, "Okay...Okay, yeah. Thank you so much. We really need you today." She says before laying her head on Chris' shoulder.
Melanie had actually not been to very many funerals in her day. Before today, the only funerals she'd ever been to were that of John's mother some years ago, and Tori. Obviously no one likes funerals, but Melanie absolutely despised them to her very core because her first experience with a funeral was such a horrible one.
Chris remembered that day pretty well too. He'd begged his parents to take him to the funeral home early so that he could be with Melanie for as long as possible that day. Eventually, they agreed. When they got there, his parents and Melanie's parents conversed in the lobby while Chris went into the main room where Melanie was.
It was a closed casket service; he knew it would be. When he walked in, Melanie was on her knees with a hand on the casket, crying hysterically. As previously mentioned, Melanie cried for about a month after Tori died and Chris was there for most of it. Chris could feel a lump forming in the back of his throat at the sight of the scene before him. He slowly walks over to Melanie and just stands there a moment, not sure if he should disturb her. Pictures of Tori surrounded the casket and there was a slide show of pictures of her playing on a television in the back of the room. Melanie glances over and sees Chris' shoes, then looks up at him with tears running down her face.
"Hey." Chris said, quietly.
Melanie sniffled, "Hey." She'd repeated.
Chris took Melanie's hand to help her stand, then he brought her to him and hugged her, tightly.
This was right after Chris had had his growth spurt that made him taller than pretty much everyone, so Melanie was still getting used to only being chest height to him. She rested her forehead on his chest and cried while Chris strokes her hair. They came apart and stared at each other a moment, neither of them knowing what to say.
Finally, Chris wiped tears on both sides of Melanie's face and he cupped her cheeks with both of his hands, looking her dead in the eye.
"I will get you through this, okay? I promise."
Melanie nodded, then hugs him again, continuing to cry. Chris let a few tears slip as well, as Tori had been like an older sister to him in many ways. It was heartbreaking to think of her being gone and of her dying in such a horrible way. He knew this day would be hard, but he also knew that he had to be strong for Melanie.
They came apart and Melanie spoke, "Can I spend the night at your house tonight? My parents are a wreck and I just don't wanna go home with them."
"Of course. We'll eat all your favorite foods and listen to all your favorite music and watch all your favorite movies. Even those lovey dovey chick flicks that I think are boring."
Melanie would in time be the one that introduced Chris to a lot of the "chick flicks" he would come to like in adulthood.
Melanie managed a smile and nodded, "Okay."
Melanie then looked at the casket a moment, then she looked back at Chris.
"You know how much I don't like seeming needy...but I really need you right now, Chris."
Chris nodded, then stepped forward and hugged Melanie again.
x
John's funeral was okay. There were some parts for Melanie and Chris that were a bit uncomfortable, but Melanie knew she had to be there for Sadie and Chris knew he had to be there for Melanie. A lot of people questioned Sadie's attire and some appeared as though they may have been questioning her gender, but no one said anything directly along those lines.
At the reception, as planned, Sadie changed into a dress and let her red curls fly free. She'd been pretty sad at the funeral, but once she had some food and got to talking with some of the other kids there, she was fine.
Chris sits down next to Melanie at a table, "Hey."
"Hey."
"How you holding up?"
Melanie frowns, "I don't know..."
There's a pause.
"Is this my fault?" Melanie asks.
Chris sighs, "Melanie - "
"Is it?"
"Of course not. There's no way you could have known."
Melanie looks over at Sadie, who was currently off playing with some of the other kids.
"What am I supposed to do now?" She asks.
"Jason and Michelle haven't talked to you yet?"
"About what?"
"Since they're pregnant and wanting to get a bigger place, they're thinking about moving closer to town and they want to help with Sadie."
A wave of relief suddenly washed over Melanie. Jason was John's brother, and he and his wife, Michelle, loved Sadie and were perfectly accepting of her gender change. To have them helping out with watching Sadie would be close to a miracle.
"I'll have to thank them." Melanie says.
Chris nods, "Are you guys staying over tonight?"
"Probably. You leave soon though, don't you? We won't be intruding, will we?"
"No, no, of course not. I don't want to leave you guys alone yet anyway. I've still got a few days with you guys and I want to make sure that you'll be okay by the time I leave."
Melanie nods, "Thank you."
x
At Chris' house, later that evening.
Chris had known that Melanie had had a hard day and insisted that she rest. As usual, she was reluctant to rest and denied that she was tired, wanting to stay awake in case Sadie got emotional. However, a while later, Melanie could no longer resist her exhaustion, so she laid down a moment just to 'rest her eyes'. She woke up an hour and a half later on the couch.
Melanie blinks a few times, then grabs her phone and looks at the time. It was just a little past five, but given the fact that it was winter, the sun was about to go down. The house was quiet. A bit too quiet for Melanie's liking. To her relief though, she suddenly heard laughing, and it sounded like it was coming from outside.
Melanie stands and goes over to the window and looks outside. Despite it being winter, there wasn't any snow on the ground at the moment and the cold wasn't as bitter as it usually was. Chris and Sadie were out in the front, Chris on one end of the sidewalk and Sadie on the other with the skateboard. After the last time Melanie watched Sadie attempt to skateboard, Melanie asked that Chris at the very least get Sadie a helmet in the event something happened. So Sadie was now also wearing a pink helmet with Minny Mouse ears on it.
Sadie sets the skateboard on the ground, a determined look on her face.
"You ready?" Chris asks from the other side of the sidewalk.
"Uh huh."
"You sure?"
"Yep!"
"Alright...go!"
Sadie drags her other foot and kicks it a few times, then sets it on the skateboard with her other foot and smiles as she makes it to Chris on the other end of the sidewalk.
Chris scoops Sadie up and smiles, "You did it!" He cheers before beginning to spin her around.
"Woooo hooo!"
Melanie smiles and decides to not go outside for now, not wanting to interrupt them. She just wanted to...watch them. Chris was really good with Sadie, and Melanie was beginning to realize that he may have been better than Melanie had previously thought...it was going to be really hard when he left for tour again.
A/N: It's really beginning to occur to me just how much I'm dragging this freaking story out, haha! So the funeral happened, Chris and Sadie are closer than ever and Melanie is really starting to see that now. Where will things go from here?
Let me know what you think!
xoxo, Scissorhands