The semester had ended, and it was finally Christmas break. With everything that had happened, all of us were itching to get home and away from each other, mostly. We all needed a break.
Mel and I were inseparable. If she wasn't at the house, I was at her dorm. After that night, I refuse to let her out of my sight, and I think she was happy about it. For both of us, it made her feel safer. Even though they would never hurt her again, the doctor was right. She developed a fear of being alone. The girl that had been so free and confident was now afraid of her own shadow. Dad said that eventually, things would get better, but it would take a lot of time and patience.
One day I left Mel with Scarlett and Liz while I took care of something with RJ and Nik. We pulled up to her dorm.
"Are you sure about this?" RJ asked.
We got out of the car, and I look across the top at him. "Out of everyone, I trust you two not to rifle through her stuff or ogle her panties. Plus, Nik can help pick out some nice clothes for her."
"Why me?" Nik asked a bit confused.
"Because it's a known fact that gay men have a sense of fashion," I answered.
"Since when?" Nik questioned.
"Since forever," I replied.
"That's so stereotypical of you. I'll have you know that my fashion sense doesn't come from me. If I had my way, I'd be wearing jeans and a tee-shirt all the time. The person you should have brought is Leo. He is studying fashion design for crying out loud," Nik said emphatically.
"This is very disconcerting that you have no fashion sense," I said.
"Yeah, well, a lot of things about you are disconcerting, but you don't see me picking at them, now do you?" Nik asked with a look.
I just rolled my eyes. "Fine, call the misses."
Nik gave me another look. "Not very PC, are you?"
"All being PC does is make people more pussified. No offense, but if people get easily offended over one thing, they'll get easily offended over everything," I answered.
"I don't care about being PC. I care that you thought I had fashion sense," Nik smirked.
"Then what was with the whole PC stuff?" RJ asked.
"I just like to see Liam go on his tangent. He's pretty funny when he's on a roll," Nik laughed.
I rolled my eyes at Nik. Damn Nik, gets me every time. We went inside and up to Mel's room. I looked in her closet for two bags to put some stuff in them for her. I pulled them out and placed them on the bed. We heard a knock at the door, and Nik said, "Must be Leo."
Nik opened the door. Leo strolled into the room. "Someone call for fashion help?"
"Yeah, it seems your better half doesn't know diddly about clothes," I said to him.
"That's true. If Nik had his way, he would wear jeans and tee-shirts all the time. Not that I don't mind," Leo grinned.
I rolled my eyes. "Look no offense. I need not hear about your love fest or anyone else's. Can we just get what we need and get back to the house? I'm not sure how long Mel will be okay with me leaving."
They all looked at me as we worked on packing some stuff for her. Leo picked out the clothes and underwear. I made sure she had essentials. Nik and RJ made sure they covered whatever we were missing. After getting two bags packed and a toiletries bag together, my phone went off.
I answered, "I'm on my way now. Yes, everything is fine. Don't worry; we'll be back in ten minutes. I know, baby. I know. Yeah, I love you, too." I hung up and said, "We got to get back now."
With that, we left and went back to the house. People may think I'm a little overprotective of Mel, but after what I saw that night, I didn't feel like I was protective. The minute I walked in the door, I yelled, "Honey, I'm home!"
Mel ran to me and slammed into me, almost knocking me off my feet.
"Did someone miss me?" I asked. Mel nodded as she buried her head into my chest. I pulled her back a bit. "I have a surprise for you."
"What kind of surprise?" Mel asked with a worried look.
"A travel surprise," I smiled.
She gave me a look as she saw her bags behind me and then got upset. "Are you kicking me out? I promise I won't do anything. Please don't make me leave, and I won't bother you. I won't talk, but please don't make me leave," she sobbed. "Please, Liam. I'll be good. Please don't make me leave." She grabbed my sleeves as she cried until she was almost hysterical.
"What in the world is she saying?" Nik asked.
I looked to see the bags. Then it hit me why Mel thought this way. I looked at her in the face. "Mel, I'm not kicking you out."
"You're not," she sniffled.
"No, the bags are for when you come home with me at Christmas. Baby, I'm bringing you with me when we go back tomorrow. The guys went with me to help pack some stuff for you, so it would be less for you to worry about," I said. "I wanted to surprise you."
She looked at me; then, a smile appeared upon her lips, which made me smile. It wasn't often I got to see her beautiful smile after what happened. I was sorely missing it.
She reached up and wrapped her arms around my neck as she laid her cheek on my chest. I wrapped my arms around her. She didn't need to say anything because I already knew how she felt.
After we packed up the cars and everyone loaded in, we set off for home. It had been a few months since we had been home and believe me; I was missing it. I think everyone was. We definitely couldn't wait to get home and get space from each other.
Once we arrived, we said hi to our parents and gave them hugs. Then it was time to settle in. I know we will do the entire family Christmas thing, but I just wanted to lie in my bed with Mel right now.
She stood looking around as I sat down on my bed and kicked off my shoes. I will say it was odd bringing a girl home since I never really brought one home. It was better that way. If it doesn't work out, they don't know where you live and end up stalking your ass. Yeah, way too many crazies out there.
As she stood there, I walked over and slid my hands around her from behind, making her jump a bit. "Shh, it's just me," I said, laying my head on her shoulder.
"I'm sorry it's just when you did that, it reminded me of when they grabbed me that night. They did it from behind," she sighed.
I spun her around and looked at her. "It's okay. I promise nothing will happen to you. If you feel more comfortable with me not doing that, I won't do it."
"That would be better," she said.
"Consider it done," I said with a smile, and she gave me a slight one. Eh, better than nothing.
"Now, why don't we rummage through my parents' fridge?" I asked casually. I watched as her lips curled into a smile and that sparkle in her eye, which had been long absent, appear. God, how I missed that. I took her hand and led her downstairs and into the kitchen. It seems everyone else had the same idea as we did. They were all sitting around, eating, and laughing.
Dad looked at Mel as she made a sandwich. "How are you doing, Melinda?"
"Some days are agreeable. Some are bad. But I'm surviving," Mel said as she finished making her sandwich.
"It'll get better. Are you seeing anyone?" Dad asked.
"I'm seeing the person you recommended. Liam takes me to all my sessions. He has been terrific throughout all this," she said.
"Yeah, he can be when he wants to be," dad said.
"Don't get too comfortable, there's always a prank needing to happen somewhere," I said to him.
"You mean when you decided Drew needed to feel the heat," Dad said. With that, we heard someone laugh. It was a laugh I hadn't heard in weeks. One that was so amazing, and I had longed to listen to it.
I leaned over to her. "Do that again."
"What?" Mel questioned.
"What you just did," I said, referring to her laugh.
She looked at me questionably, then Elijah said, "Drew said to remind you the flagpoles are still waiting for you." With that, she laughed again as I smiled, just enjoying it.
I gave Elijah a look, and he nodded. He knew why and needed no explanation. From there, Mel laughed more. For my family, I was forever grateful.
Later on, I crawled into bed next to her, and she snuggled up to me. She seemed more relaxed then she had been in a while.
She propped herself up and looked at me. "Thank you."
"For what?" I asked, looking at Mel.
"For everything and taking care of me that night. Most guys wouldn't do what you did," Mel told me.
"Well, I'm not most guys," I smirked at her.
"This is true," she said, and I started tickling her, making her laugh.
"God, I missed your laugh," I mentioned.
She smiled.
"And your smile and sparkle in your eyes. To see it replaced by dullness and void broke my heart," I said as I stroke the side of Mel's face with the back of my hands.
"Yeah, I was missing it myself. I hated what those people did to me. It felt like a nightmare that I couldn't wake up. Like I would get stuck there for the rest of my life," she said, looking into my eyes.
"I couldn't imagine what you must have felt. I mean, when those guys jumped me, I had a fighting chance. You didn't get the same opportunity. They were animals, nothing more, nothing less," I said to her.
"Yeah," she sighed.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have brought it up," I said to her.
"No, it's okay. The doctor said to talk about it when I feel comfortable talking about it. He also said not to keep it bottled up. It's the only way I can move on," she said to me.
"Okay, but now I think it's an excellent time to sleep," I said, giving her a soft smile, which she promptly returned. I leaned in and gave her a gentle kiss, and she kissed me back. I laid down on my back, and she cuddled up next to me. We both fell asleep peacefully.
Halloween is JJ's and my favorite holiday, but Christmas is mom's favorite. Plus, it's her and Ryan's birthday since they are twins. It also means Clark is at it again as Mack affectionately calls Frazier, and we're hunting for a Christmas tree.
That guarantees some kind of argument between all of us. While Shawn gets to deal with Clark and his shenanigans, we get to deal with ours.
"That's not funny, you three," dad yelled after we pelted him with snow in the Christmas tree lot.
"It was a little funny," I said.
"Oh lighten up, George," Elijah said.
Dad shot Elijah a glare. Yes, we all gave our fathers nicknames. Frazier was Clark, Dad was George, and well, Ryan was Bucky. Yeah, don't ask me where they came up with that, but that was Drew's idea. He's still pissed at it.
We all laughed, and while he went looking for Mom before, he beat us with a tree. Nik and Leo found their way over to us at one point.
"Don't tell me your dad is still searching for a damn tree," Elijah said.
"Pft, Clark always wants the perfect tree, although Mack will get beat of she keeps calling him Clark," Nik said. We laughed as RJ and Drew found us standing there.
"Where's Ryan?" I asked.
"You mean Bucky? Probably with Clark and George trying to find a Christmas tree. RJ and I snuck away to get a hot chocolate. You guys down?" Drew asked us.
I looked at Mel, whose lips were turning blue.
"Cold?" I asked.
She nodded.
"Count us in," I said.
We heard, "Well, I don't know Clark, maybe George and Bucky can help you!" Mack came walking over with Shawn. "I swear he gets worse and worse every year."
"You know Dad will kill you if you keep calling him Clark," Nik said.
"Not as much as Ryan will kill Drew for calling him Bucky," she shrugged.
Mel pulled me to her and whispered, "Why do you all call them that?"
"I'll tell you when we get some hot cocoa," I smirked.
We all left to get some hot cocoa. Yeah, our parents would kill us for taking off, but I hate tree shopping.
We found a little mom and pop place, and all got some hot cocoa. Davina and Lydia were at their folks and would meet up with us later.
"So, why do you call your dad's that?" Mel asked.
"Well, Frazier acts like Clark Griswold from Christmas Vacation. So Mack dubbed him Clark. Dad is the straight lace guy you see in the cartoons with a temper named George, so we called him George. As for Ryan, I'm not sure. Why do you call Ryan, Bucky?" I asked Drew.
"Simple. Trees have wood and beavers like wood. Hence Bucky, the beaver. I started it the first time I got dragged to find a Christmas tree with them. It pisses Ryan off, but it's so worth the laugh," Drew said, chuckling.
"Oh," said Mel.
We all looked at her, and I asked, "What's wrong?"
"It's just that you all seem close. I didn't have that growing up. I mean, don't get me wrong, I love my aunt, but she worked a lot to support me. Since I didn't have brothers and sisters, it's just nice to see all of you interact with each other," she smiled.
That caused us all to smile and enjoyed our hot cocoa, then went back to the tree lot. Mel went ahead, and I stopped Elijah. "Thanks for what you did in the kitchen the other day. I thought her laughing was a one-time deal, and I missed it. What they did to her, taking the joy away from her," I said, and Elijah interrupted me.
"I know. We all saw what those guys took from her that night. I knew how much you missed her laugh. We all did," he said.
"Liam, I got to hand it to you, man. How you were with her that night was incredible. You have no idea how much you did for her that night, being kind to her and taking care of her," Drew said.
We looked at Mel as she laughed and smiled with my family, "I would do it all over again if I had to. I love her, and that's what you do when you love someone. You know who told me that?"
"Who?" Elijah asked.
"Mel. She got it then, and I get it now," I said, and they both nodded.
We walked over and joined them. It was great seeing Me's smile again and laugh. Mel's joy was slowly returning, and I was glad.