The rest of Tori's birthday was hard for both Chris and Melanie. Every year on Tori's birthday, Melanie broke down. And every year, Chris tried to be strong for her, but he usually ended up breaking down as well. Melanie didn't always cry because as previously mentioned, Melanie wasn't much of a crier. But she'd drink or yell or get frustrated.
After a while, Melanie passed out. This was when Chris took a moment to shed a few tears for Tori, as she'd been like an older sister to him before she'd died. She'd been so good to him growing up and was so excited when she'd heard that Chris wanted to play with his band in the talent show that year. Tori had even said that she would try to come home to Scranton that weekend to see him play...but she never got to.
Chris never held any kind of ill will towards anyone about that though. He knew better. Chris missed Tori like crazy and what happened to her was awful, but Chris never treated the girls at his shows wearing hijabs with any less respect than anyone else.
Chris spent the rest of the day taking care of Melanie, and Sadie came home later that night. She said she'd already eaten, but Chris made her a quick bite to eat anyway. He didn't mind. Chris told Sadie the same thing that Melanie had told her; that Melanie was sick and needed rest.
"Is she gonna be okay?" Sadie asks.
"She will be, yeah."
"Is she gonna be sick tomorrow too?"
"Maybe. She might actually be worse tomorrow. I'll be here to help take care of her though."
"Are you gonna stay the night?"
"Probably. I've crashed in you guys' guest room plenty of times, just like you guys have stayed at my place."
"That didn't really start until Mommy and Daddy got divorced though."
"Yeah, but sometimes things change, you know?"
"Yeah..."
There's a pause.
"Are you gonna be gone for a long time when you leave for tour again?" Sadie asks.
"Not a super long time. Just three weeks."
Sadie pouts, "But I miss you when you're gone." She says before going over to hug him.
Chris hugs her back, "I miss you too, kiddo, but you know I always come back for you."
"Yeah..."
"I'll try to get you and your mom into one of our shows again. You had fun at the last one, right?"
"Yeah, it was awesome! I totally wanna go to another one!"
"Then you totally will! But right now, it's an hour past your bedtime, so you should probably get ready for sleep."
"Oh, okay. I'm gonna take Fred outside one last time first." Sadie says before walking off to take Fred outside.
Chris heads upstairs to check on Melanie to see if she was still asleep. She was about half asleep, and squinted her eyes at Chris.
"Chris?" She asks, groggily.
"Hey, how you feeling?"
"Like shit. Is Sadie okay?"
"Yeah, she's fine, she's taking Fred out and then I'll put her to bed."
"You don't have to do that."
"Why not? I've done it before. You need to rest because you're probably still gonna feel like shit tomorrow so you're gonna need the energy to deal with it."
"That's not quite how hangovers work, Chris."
"Well, I've never been hungover, so I wouldn't know."
"Shut up."
"Love you too. Now, I'm gonna go get your kid. You rest."
"Wait."
"What?"
"C'mere."
Melanie then hugs Chris for a really long time. He hugs her back, lightly stroking her hair.
"Are you okay?" Chris asks.
"No...but I will be."
They come apart and Chris brushes Melanie's hair out of her face, "Maybe next year we can think of a better coping method than drinking yourself into an even deeper depression."
"That might be a good idea." Melanie says before taking Chris' hand, "Thank you."
"For what?"
"For taking care of us, and for helping out so much. I can't even begin to tell you how much it means to me."
Chris squeezes her hand and kisses her forehead, "Of course, Mel."
They stare at each other a minute, and Chris begins to grow slightly uncomfortable at the fact that Melanie couldn't seem to stop staring at his lips...Finally, she speaks.
"Fix your lip ring, it's driving me crazy."
Chris blinks, then laughs, "Is one of them crooked or something?"
"Yeah, you can see where the two ends are supposed to meet."
"Okay, I'll fix that in a minute. You kept staring at my lips, for a minute I thought...nevermind, it's too weird. Get some sleep."
"Okay. Thank you."
Chris nods, then walks out of the room to get Sadie.
x
After fixing his lip ring as requested, Chris carries Sadie into her room, slumped over his shoulder. Her tiny fists pound on his back and her laughter made her entire little body shake.
"Put me down! Put me down!" Sadie laughs.
"If you insist." Chris says before throwing her down onto her bed, still laughing.
Chris sits on the edge of the bed next to her, "Okay, time to calm down."
"Okay."
Sadie lays down in bed and Chris lightly pets her hair.
"You promise you're gonna come back after tour?"
"Of course, why wouldn't I?" Chris asks.
"I don't know, I just miss you when you're gone...Daddy always said that he'd come back for me, but then I lost him."
Chris' heart falls, "Do you ever miss him?"
"Uh huh. I miss him a lot. I wish I could have him back, but I've got you, so that makes it okay. I just worry sometimes. I mean, I've been to your concerts and I've seen your shows and they're so much fun, and it looks like it would be even more fun to go on stage and sing for people every night. What if you decide you just want to do that all the time instead of coming home? It's boring here anyway."
Chris laughs, "Okay, yes, touring is fun, but it gets tiring after a while. Towards the end, I'm always ready to come back and rest and see my two favorite people."
"I know, but...it always used to be so hard watching my dad leave whenever he left, and then one day, he didn't come back. So now, whenever you leave, I sometimes get afraid that you're not gonna come back." Sadie admits, her voice cracking.
"Sadie..." Chris says, picking Sadie up and putting her on his lap. He takes the blanket and puts it over her. She wraps herself around him and lays her head on his shoulder. Chris pets Sadie's hair a minute as she nuzzles into him, listening to his heartbeat.
After a minute or so, Chris speaks, "Look at me."
Sadie lifts her head and does as told. Chris puts his hands on either side of her face and pulls her closer to him.
"I will always, always, always come back home for you, okay? My family is here. My parents, my brother and sister, your mom and you; you're all my family and I would miss you all so much if I didn't come back. I already miss you all so much when I'm on tour; I wouldn't be able to survive if I never got to see you all. I swear on my life, Sadie, I will always come home to see you. I couldn't live without your hugs."
"I couldn't live without your hugs either." Sadie says before hugging him again.
Melanie could hear all of this, as her and Sadie's bedroom doors were open and Melanie's room was just across the hall from Sadie's. She'd never really thought of what kind of issues Sadie may develop from all of the things that had happened with her dad. Melanie obviously knew that it would have an impact on Sadie's life, but she never really took into consideration that it could potentially turn into something more serious, like abandonment issues.
When John first moved out of the house, Sadie was a mess...but, as usual, Chris came to the rescue later on that day. When John finished getting the last of his things ready, he went up to Sadie's room to say 'goodbye' to her, even though he would see her two days later. Sadie sat on her bed with her knees to her chest, clutching Peanut. She had tears running down her face.
John's face fell, "Aww, Sadie..."
Sadie looked up at him in tears, "I don't want you to go."
"You're gonna see me in a couple of days."
"But I don't want you to not live with me anymore."
"I know, pumpkin, I know it's hard, but it'll get easier."
John sat on the edge of Sadie's bed and she hugged him for a long time.
"I've gotta go." John said.
"I don't want you to go."
"I have to, I promised your mom."
Sadie pouted, then buried her face in her pillow and continued to sob. John sighed, then Sadie felt the weight of her bed shift. A couple of footsteps later, John was gone.
Sadie continued to cry into her pillow. She wasn't sure how long it was, but after a while, she heard footsteps again and the weight on her bed again shifted. She felt a large hand start to rub her back.
Sadie sniffled and looked up, "Daddy?"
Chris gave her a sad smile, "No, it's just me, kiddo."
Sadie wipes the tears from her face, then crawled into Chris' lap.
"I thought you were on tour."
"I just came back."
"I thought you'd be at home."
"Your mom told me you were going through a hard time, so I thought I'd come by and make sure my favorite munchkin was doing okay."
"Well, I'm not."
"Then I'll stay here until you are. What can I do to make you feel better?"
"Just snuggle with me."
Chris chuckled, "Okay then. Your mom was making you a grilled cheese downstairs, are you hungry? I'll carry you down."
"Don't forget Peanut."
"I won't."
Chris grabbed Sadie's stuffed elephant and handed it to her, then he walked downstairs with her. Melanie walked out of the kitchen and managed a smile.
"Hey, you two. How are we doing?"
"Getting there." Chris said, "Kiddo, why don't I put in a movie for you so I can help your mom in the kitchen."
"Okay..."
They put in Finding Nemo for Sadie and Chris and Melanie went into the kitchen.
"How you holding up?" He asked.
Melanie shrugged, "I don't know...I mean, I know the divorce isn't technically final yet, but..."
Chris nodded, understanding. There was a pause, then Chris noticed something.
"Wow." He stated, "You took your rings off."
"Yeah, I gave them to John on his way out and told them he could do what he wanted with them."
"Are you gonna be okay?" Chris asked.
Melanie sighed, "I will be..."
x
Chris left for tour a few days after helping Melanie recover from her hangover. On days that Melanie couldn't get Sadie, Sadie could go with her Uncle Jason and Aunt Michelle except for one time when they had a doctor appointment and couldn't get Sadie after school. That day, Sadie stayed after school for the late pickup program. One day though, Melanie actually got off work on time and was able to pick up Sadie. When Melanie pulled up to the school, one of the aids walked Sadie to the car. Melanie's windows were open and she smiles to the aide.
"Hello." Melanie said.
"Hi there. You weren't who I was expecting. You and Sadie's stepfather have similar cars."
Sadie gets in the back seat, not paying attention to what the adults were saying.
Melanie furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, "Sadie's stepfather?"
"The man with the long hair and the tattoos?"
Melanie's eyes widen, "Chris? Oh, no; no no no, he's not - we're not - he's just a friend."
"Oh, my mistake. He comes to get Sadie so often, I thought you two were together. Anyway, have a nice day."
"You too." Melanie says before driving off, "That's hilarious."
"What is?" Sadie asks.
"She thought Chris was your stepdad because he comes to get you so much."
"Really?"
"Yeah, how silly is that?"
Sadie laughs, "Yeah, kinda silly." She says before mumbling, "I'd kind of like it if Chris were my stepdad."
"What, sweetie?"
"I said I miss Chris." Sadie fibs.
x
Chris lay in his bunk that night, chatting with Melanie and Sadie because Melanie had texted him saying that Sadie had been talking about missing him.
"I love you too, kiddo? Can you put your mom back on the phone now?...Okay...Hey, Mel."
"Hey. Do you have a busy day tomorrow?"
"Of course I do."
"Okay, then I won't keep you too much longer. Ooh, before I let you go though, I have the funniest story to tell you."
Chris smiles, "Okay, what's up?"
"So I actually got off work on time to pick up Sadie today and since my car and your car look similar, the aide that was there thought it was you coming to pick her up. So when she sees me she says that she was expecting Sadie's stepdad."
Chris' gut twists, "Wait, what?!"
"Yeah, so obviously I told her that it wasn't like that and that you're just a friend, but isn't that so funny?"
Chris forgets how to speak.
"Chris?"
Chris then bursts into very awkward and very choppy laughter, "Y-Yeah, yeah, yeah that-that's really funny, yeah."
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm okay just...just tired."
"Okay, I'll let you go then. Get some sleep, butthead."
"Bye, bitch."
They hang up and Chris stares up at the bunk above him.
"Fuck."
A/N: Hahahahahahaha we're getting theeeeeerrrreeee!
Let me know what you think!
xoxo, Scissorhands