The next day.
Melanie piles things from the shelves of her closet into boxes. She keeps a smile on her face, unable to believe that any of this was actually happening, but happier than she'd ever been in probably her entire life.
Melanie looks over at her husband, who was helping her back.
She and Chris had simply decided to get married at City Hall the night before. It was done. And they were both completely overjoyed.
Once they finished up, they ran over to Sadie's friend's house to pick up Sadie before going home. That night on the couch before they fell asleep, Chris and Melanie talked a lot about what they planned to do and overall decided that Melanie and Sadie and Fred would go to Chris' house. His house was bigger and was in a good neighborhood, and was actually a little bit closer to Sadie's school than Melanie's house was. They then fell asleep.
However, the following morning was a bit of an adventure.
Melanie woke up on the couch on Chris' shoulder. Sadie was passed out on Chris' lap and Chris was also asleep. Melanie smiles as memories from the night before begin to flood her mind...and then her gut fell. Melanie scrambled for her clutch and got her phone out.
"Oh my God." Melanie said before beginning to shake Sadie awake, "Sadie, honey, get up, get up!"
Sadie opened her eyes and blinked a couple of times. Chris' eyes opened too and he looked to Melanie.
"What's up?" He asked.
"We overslept! I've gotta get her to school!"
"Am I gonna be late?" Sadie asks.
"Not if you're really fast. Go upstairs, get dressed and brush your teeth, I'll get you an apple or something for breakfast 'cause we've gotta go."
Sadie nodded and ran upstairs to change. Melanie got off the couch and went to the pile of shoes next to the front door, putting on the first pair of shoes she could find, which happened to be a pair of sneakers. She was still in her dress from the night before.
"Are you guys gonna be able to make it in time?" Chris asked.
"We should be able to just make it if we hurry. I won't be long, I'm just gonna drop her off and I'll come back."
Once dressed and ready, Sadie gets in the car and so does Melanie, then they drove off. Melanie was just then coming to the realization of how ridiculous she probably looked in a cocktail dress and sneakers with messy hair and slightly smeared makeup. She supposed there wasn't anything she could do about it. Sadie had been so tired last night and was so focused on getting to school right now that she didn't even think to ask Melanie about hers and Chris' night. Sadie had helped Chris pick out the engagement ring, so she knew all about what was to happen. However, in their rushed state, that was the last thing on Sadie's mind.
Melanie got to the school just in time, as predicted, and Sadie dashed out of the car.
"Bye, Mom!"
"Bye, sweetie! Have a good day!"
Melanie then drove off, ready to get home. She took a minute to process everything. Sadie had gotten to school on time, so that was one thing Melanie didn't need to worry about.
She had work!
Melanie stopped her car at a stop sign and hit her head against the steering wheel in frustration. Work was the literal last thing Melanie wanted right now. She'd just gotten married in a crazy rush and she and Chris still had so much to do and talk about. There was no way Melanie could be trusted to focus on correctly slicing open dead bodies in her state of mind, so she took it upon herself to say "fuck it" and call in work to take a personal day.
She then messaged Chris and told him the same thing, which he was super happy to hear. When Melanie returned home, she showered and freshened up and got dressed into normal clothes. She then made a pot of coffee and waited for Chris to get back, as he'd gone back to his house to freshen up as well and change into normal clothes.
When he returned, they sat down and took a minute to breathe after such a crazy morning.
"I cannot even begin to tell you how good it feels to be home on a weekday." Melanie exhaled.
"I bet. Did Sadie get to school alright?"
"Yeah, we were fine. We've gotta think of a way to tell her about last night. I mean, she knows you were going to propose to me, but she doesn't know that we just ran off and got married."
"That's true. She'll be happy though. I know I am." Chris said before kissing her.
When they came apart, Melanie smiled, "So, Sadie officially started calling you 'Dad'."
Chris chuckled, "Yeah, she did."
"And how do you feel about that?"
"It's a little scary, but it's a good scary. I talked to her and told her that I'm in no way trying to replace John, and that it's okay for her to still love and miss him, but if she sees me as a father-figure, that's okay too."
Melanie's smile grew, "Look at you, all grown up. I never thought I'd see the day."
Chris laughed, "I may be a bit more 'grown up' now, but I'll always be the guy that decided to build a blanket fort with an eight year old. And I'm sure there will be many more blanket fort days to come."
Melanie giggled and kissed him, "I love you."
"I love you too."
"Well, since Sadie and I are gonna be moving in with you, I should probably at least attempt to start getting some things packed and organized."
"Always one step ahead of me. I'll help you."
"You're such a good husband. I think I've got some extra boxes in the garage."
Which leads them to where they are now, trying to get some things packed in Melanie's room. Melanie came across a couple of photo albums of her and Chris and a smile spread across her face.
"Awww, honey, come look at this!"
Chris walks over to her and smiled at the photo album she held, "Oh my God, how old were we, seven?"
"Just about."
Chris pulls out his phone and looks at the pictures that he took of him and Melanie after they'd gotten engaged and married.
"I should post these on Instagram and freak everyone out."
Melanie laughs, "Not until we tell our friends and family first."
Chris gives a dramatic sigh, "Oohhhhhh, alright." He says, putting his phone back in his pocket. He kisses Melanie's cheek, then goes back to what he was doing before.
Melanie shuts the photo album and puts it down, then begins to think. She'd been so stressed earlier and was pretty sure she had the perfect way to make sure there would be no stress for the rest of the day.
Melanie walks off to the bathroom and shuts the door, then begins to scramble around to make sure she was presentable. She quickly added some more deodorant and perfume, then looked in the mirror at herself. Her hair looked fine. She wasn't wearing any makeup, but that may actually be a good thing. Had she shaved? Yes, she'd done that in the shower. How did she look? Well, she was just in an Aerosmith shirt and jeans, so definitely not her sexiest attire. Underneath though, she was wearing her matching Victoria's Secret set, so that was probably good. She'd brushed her teeth earlier, she looked and felt fine...and yet she was still nervous out of her God forsaken mind.
Melanie takes a deep breath to relax, then she walks out of the bathroom as Chris walks out of the bathroom.
"I think I saw a couple other boxes in the garage, so I'll bring them up here so you'll have them." Chris says.
Melanie nods and Chris walks off. Melanie hurries into the bedroom. She straightens up the bed, closes the curtains and makes sure none of the boxes were in way Chris walks in with a couple more boxes and Melanie shuts the door behind him.
"Um, you know what? We've been at this for a while. Why won't we take a break?" Melanie asks.
Chris nods and sets the boxes down, "Okay, what do you wanna - "
Chris then gets cut off by Melanie stepping forward and kissing him, and it grew rather intense. Their tongues traced each other and Melanie lightly tugged at one of Chris' lip rings with her teeth. Chris put his hands on Melanie's hips and pulled her to him tightly as Melanie put a hand on his chest and they come apart.
"Oh." Chris states.
Melanie giggles, "I was just thinking about how we fell asleep on the couch last night and had all of the craziness this morning, so we never got around to...consummating the marriage."
"That's a good point."
"Sadie won't need to be picked up for another few hours."
"That is also a good point."
Melanie smiles, then they kiss again, slower this time, taking their time. They make their way to the bed and Chris' hands reach under Melanie's shirt, his fingertips grazing her sizes. He hadn't even touched her anywhere super intimate and Melanie already felt incredibly alive and nervous. Chris sat on the bed and brought Melanie down so she was straddling him, then they break the kiss a moment and Melanie smiles.
"With as freaked out as you were about us getting together in the first place, I'm surprised you're being so calm." Melanie states.
"Oh believe me, this is pretty scary because it's you and me, but at the same time, it's...it's you and me, and that feels...right."
Melanie gives a small smile, then quickly pecks his lips, "I love you."
"I love you too."
They kiss again and Melanie puts her hands on Chris' chest. Her hands slowly move down his chest to the hem of his shirt, then they break the kiss momentarily as Melanie takes off the shirt and tosses it elsewhere. Chris lays back and brings Melanie down on top of him, clumsily. Melanie giggles, then they resume as Chris works his hands up Melanie's sides. Melanie had always been mildly self-conscious about the way her body looked since she gave birth to Sadie and a lot about her body changed. She was in fairly good shape and was thin, but she certainly didn't look how she did when she was a teenager. Nevertheless, Chris looked at her like they were teenagers in love for the first time and that gave Melanie a little boost of confidence.
Melanie sat up and took her shirt off, then went back down and started to kiss up and down Chris' tattooed neck. Chris moves his hands down to Melanie's jeans and he undoes them before pushing them down. Melanie pulls them the rest of the way down, really having to awkwardly wiggle out of them.
"You know, putting on such tight jeans on a day where I planned on having sex was probably not my best idea." She states once she gets them off.
Chris laughs, then pulls Melanie too him and rolls them over before kissing her again. They make their way under the covers and Melanie begins to undo Chris' jeans.
"Someone's excited." She whispers.
Chris' hand grazes her inner thigh and he smirks, "I bet I'm not the only one."
Chris' hand makes its way between Melanie's legs to her panties, and he could already feel how wet she was. Melanie couldn't believe that Chris of all people was touching her this way, but it couldn't have felt more right. Chris kissed her again, his head spinning. It was all really beginning to dawn on him. He was in love with Melanie. She was his wife. He was going to make love to her. And he began wondering why it took him so long to realize how right she was for him.
Chris kicks his jeans off with much less effort than Melanie, which makes her scowl.
"That's not fair."
"Aww, poor baby." Chris says before beginning to tickle her, which makes her entire body twinge.
"S-Stop!...Oh God, stop!" Melanie says between laughs, "It's really gonna kill the sexy mood if I end up kneeing you in the ribs because you won't stop tickling me!"
Chris chuckles and stops tickling Melanie before kissing her again and rolling them over so that Melanie was half on top of him and half on the bed.
"I love you, Melanie May." Chris whispers, smiling.
"I love you too." Melanie says, climbing on top of him and reaching behind her to unhook her bra. She and Chris who had been best friends since they were five were about to see each other naked, which was a terrifying and wonderful thought process all at the same time. A week ago, Chris had been a friend and only a friend. Now, they were married and she was stripping in front of him. So Melanie's hands shook and her heart pounded, but she smiled as she knew that she was with someone who truly loved her and who would make her happier than any man ever had.
Melanie took her bra off and threw it wherever and Chris' eyes immediately wandered her body, drinking in every bit of her that he could. Melanie's cheeks turned pink, which Chris notices.
"Come on, now." He says, softly, "You know how beautiful you are."
Chris knew that how Melanie felt about the changes her pregnancy had had on her body - of course he knew, he knew everything about her. This was comforting though. He knew everything about her; there wasn't a single thing that Chris didn't know about Melanie, and he still loved her. So Melanie leaned down and kissed him again, knowing that she would be rewarded for the risks she'd taken.
After her miscarriage, Melanie got a birth control implant because, at the time, she and John had decided to take a break from trying to have kids for a while. She still had a couple of months left before she'd have to get the implant removed, so she and Chris had zero worries about protection or birth control pills or anything of the sort; all they focused on was each other.
Chris kissed every inch of Melanie's body that he could as he removed her panties and his hands wandered, touching everywhere but the one place Melanie practically ached for him to touch her. Melanie's hands went down Chris' sides before reaching the band of his black boxer-briefs and sliding them down. Chris came back up to kiss Melanie's lips again, both of them in complete bliss. Chris finally brought his hand to her heat, touching her in just the right way. A small moan escaped her lips as they kissed and their heartbeats increased rapidly.
They break the kiss and Chris presses his forehead to Melanie's, bringing a hand up to cup the side of her face. They were married, they'd completely stripped down, Melanie's intentions had been pretty clear to begin with, and Chris still looked down at her with a look that read 'is this okay?' which made her heart melt.
"I love you." She whispers.
"I love you more." Chris whispers in return before slowly sinking into her. Melanie bites her lip and gives a small moan. Chris uses his thumb to lightly tug Melanie's bottom lip out from beneath her teeth.
"We're alone; there'll be no need for that." He says before smirking, "You be as loud as you please."
Chris kissed her again and began to move in and out of her, slowly at first. It had been...a while since Melanie had been intimate with someone and she felt more alive now than ever, especially since she was with Chris, who she knew would make sure that everything about this moment was as perfect as it could be.
They sped up a bit, sweat dripping and hearts pounding. Their hands wandered and they kissed every inch of each other's bodies that they could. It was powerful, it was hot, it was everything they could have wanted and more because nothing between them at changed, and at the same time, everything had changed.
x
They lay in bed, some time later. They'd simply talked about life and the future for a while, excited for everything they had to do and look forward to. They lay on their sides, facing each other. Melanie held the covers up to her chest and flipped through a photo album that she'd found and put between herself and Chris.
"Look how cute we were in this one!" Melanie exclaims, "What were we even doing?"
"Making weird faces, I guess. Look at Tori."
"She was just as dorky as we were. She had to have only been nine or ten there."
Melanie flips back a couple of pages and Chris' eyes widen.
"Is that the flower I gave you in preschool?! After I threw the block at your head?!"
"That was the dead flower you gave me." Melanie says, "God, just think about it. If you'd never given me that flower, we never would have become friends...We never would have gotten married."
Chris gives a small smile, "That is really crazy, actually." He says, "I don't even remember what kind of flower it was."
"I do. It was a yellow tulip."
Chris looks at Melanie in shock.
"Why do you think yellow tulips have always been my favorite? And why I always scrapbook the ones you give me?" Melanie asks.
Chris stares at Melanie a while longer, then he shuts the photo album, puts it down, and kisses Melanie again with everything he has. Melanie is surprised, but she sinks into it and wraps her arms around his neck, and they resume where they left off.
x
Melanie walks into the house with Sadie a couple of hours later.
"Hey, kiddo." Chris greets.
"Hey." Sadie says, smiling.
"Do you have any homework?"
"Nope!"
"Good, 'cause there's kind of something we want to talk to you about." Melanie says.
Sadie furrows her eyebrows in confusion, "What do we - " but her eyes then widen in realization, "Last night! I forgot! You guys - what did - how did - "
Chris laughs, "We'll tell you all about it."
Sadie takes Melanie's hand and her face falls, "You're not wearing the ring..."
"That's because it's on this hand, sweetie." Melanie says, holding up her left hand.
Sadie gasps, "SHE SAID 'YES'!"
Sadie runs to Chris and Melanie and hugs them both. Chris and Melanie laugh, then sit Sadie down on the couch and they sit with her.
"She did say 'yes', but there's still more we need to talk about." Chris says.
"Like what?"
"Well...did you know that it's possible for people to get married right away if they want?" Melanie asks.
"Really?"
"Mhm. You go to City Hall and talk to someone called a judge and the judge marries you. See, Chris and I didn't think it was very important to put together a big wedding. All that mattered to us was that we got to be married and have a good life with you and Fred."
"So, we just decided that we wanted to get married right away." Chris says.
Sadie looks to Chris, then to Melanie, and back and forth between them a couple more times as the wheels turn in her head, "So...are you guys already married?"
"Yes, we are." Melanie says, taking Chris' hand.
Sadie's eyes light up, "Really?! That's so awesome!"
Chris an Melanie smile, happy to see Sadie so excited about them.
"So what's going to happen now?! Are we all going to move in together?! Are you gonna be my stepdad?!" Sadie asks Chris, "Are you gonna adopt me?!"
Melanie and Chris' eyes widen and they look to each other.
"Oh." Melanie states, "We actually didn't talk about that."
"Do you want me to?" Chris asks Sadie.
Sadie shrugs, "I just thought that was how it worked."
Melanie blinks, "Um...we'll talk about that another time. Right now, what we need to focus on is getting ready for all of us to live together. Chris and I talked and we decided that since his house is bigger, we would all move into his house together."
"Fred too?"
"Yes, Fred too." Melanie laughs, "We're gonna pack up all our things and take them to Chris' house."
"And then our house will be all empty?"
"Yup, and we're gonna sell it for another family to live in."
Sadie smiles, understanding, "Okay! I'll go upstairs and start packing!" Sadie says before dashing upstairs.
"Wait, there's still some things we need to - "
"Oh, let her get a head start." Chris says, "We can take this time to figure out how we're gonna tell literally everyone else about our special news."
Melanie smiles, "I'll get some chicken wings to-go and you call up the guys?"
"On it." Chris says, "Maybe some time this week when you're not working we could also think of a time to tell parents. When was the last time you saw your parents?"
"Sadie's birthday party."
"Well, maybe we run by them and have a little surprise pop-in."
"That's not a good idea. Knowing my parents, we'll walk in on my mother having sex with a twenty-two year old bus boy from the last restaurant she went to and my dad is probably in Utah or some shit on business."
Chris blinks, "Okay, how about we call your parents and ask them when a good night for all of us to have dinner together would be?"
"That's a much better idea. My parents will actually probably be pretty happy. They really love you."
"My parents really love you too. And you know who else really loves you?"
"Who?"
"Me."
Melanie laughs, "I love you too, butthead." She says before kissing him, knowing that this marriage was going to be the one that lasted forever and that Chris couldn't possibly have been more right for her.
A/N: Awww...So, Sadie was happy! But Chris and Melanie still have a lot more people to tell their special news to. How will all of that work out? Find out in the epilogue, coming soon!
WHO'S TWO YEARS CLEAN? I'M TWO YEARS CLEAN. WOOOOOOO
Let me know what you think!
xoxo, Scissorhands