"I don't want to leave her," Joan sighed tearfully as she folded the last of her clothes into her suitcase and zipped it shut. She and Dennis had a flight back home that evening, unable to take anymore time off work without losing their jobs. Lucy had encouraged them to go, insisting that Melanie would benefit best if her scenario was as similar to the way it was before the accident as they could manage.
"The girls will keep us up to date," Dennis assured her. "And we can try to work out a way to come back to check on her."
"I'd hoped she would at least be speaking or eating before we had to leave," Joan sniffed, dabbing her eyes with a tissue. "She hasn't made much of an improvement and she still seems so terrified of everything."
"It's slow, but she is making some progress," said Dennis, wrapping his arms around her. "She's only going to get better from here on out." Joan nodded, squeezing Dennis tightly before returning to her packing.
The two of them carried their bags into the hall, passing them off to Camilla to take down to their car while they said their goodbyes to Melanie and her friends. They entered the suite to find Melanie, Emma, and Victoria sitting together on the couch watching the Simpsons. Melanie immediately looked back at the door upon hearing them enter. She observed them for a moment before relaxing back into the couch and returning her focus on the TV.
"Come say goodbye to your parents, Melanie," said Victoria as she stood up and pulled Melanie to her feet, guiding her around the couch and over to the door where Joan and Dennis were standing. Joan immediately enveloped her daughter into her arms, fighting back tears as she squeezed her tightly. Melanie timidly returned the embrace, causing her mom to break down into fits of sobs. Melanie looked at Dennis worriedly, but he smiled tearfully, letting her know nothing was wrong.
Joan pulled back, looking Melanie in the eye and attempting to compose herself. "I'm sorry, darling," she sniffed. "I'm just being silly." She stepped back and let Dennis hug Melanie, watching tearfully as he said goodbye and kissed her cheek. "I want you to promise me you're going to listen to your friends while we're gone," Joan instructed. "We'll call every day to see how you're doing and we'll come back as soon as we can."
Melanie nodded and watched curiously as Joan and Dennis said their goodbyes to everyone in the room and waved at Melanie as they disappeared into the hallway. Victoria draped her arm over Melanie's shoulders and sighed, knowing Melanie had no idea what was going on. There was no emotion on Melanie's face as she continued to stare at the door. She looked at Victoria expectantly, waiting to be told what to do.
"Our car should be arriving soon to take us to the airport," Victoria explained. "Did anyone tell you what we're going to have to do once we get there?" Melanie nodded and pointed to the door, letting Victoria know her mum had already told her what to expect. Victoria smiled and squeezed Melanie's shoulder reassuringly, guiding her back over to the couch until their car arrived to take them to the airport.
With all the musicians back together again, various media outlets were hounding Simon and Sam for an interview. They couldn't continue with the tour without Melanie, so interviews, photoshoots, and public appearances were their only options. With New York being a huge hub of television and media studios, they had arranged for it to be their first stop.
The musicians were collected by car and driven to the airport. They were taken to a small, discrete door away from the front doors of the airport to avoid paparazzi and fans that were waiting to get photos and autographs. They were led through a quiet hallway to a room where a private security check could be done. Melanie followed along willingly, seeming not to care where they were going.
"Is it bad that I'm worried because she's not freaking out?" Simon sighed as he and Sam followed the girls through the hallway, watching Melanie with concern as she walked calmly next to Emma. Sam smirked and shook his head with amusement.
Everyone's bags were sent through the scanner and each of the band members walked through the metal detector one at a time at the request of the security team. Emma went through first and held out her hand for Melanie to walk through and join her. They were all shocked at how calm and disinterested Melanie seemed to be in the new environment with the unfamiliar airport security guards standing around. She wasn't looking around and scanning the room for threats like she usually did, and she didn't cower away as one of the security guards walked past her to get Mel to remove her watch and walk through the scanner a second time.
Emma gripped Melanie's hand tightly and looked her over curiously. Melanie was shaking, but didn't seem to be frightened at all. She was staring into space and breathing in slow, even breaths, unaware that Emma was trying to talk to her.
"Sweetheart, you're really pale," Emma observed, placing her hand on Melanie's forehead and cheeks. "Are you feeling ok?"
Receiving no response, she flagged Simon over, growing even more concerned when Melanie didn't react when he approached her.
"Can you hear me, love?" Simon asked, gently pulling Melanie's face toward himself to get a better look at her. She slowly seemed to focus on him, but made no move to back away from him, and didn't seem to be fully aware that he was talking to her.
"Is everything all right?" asked the security guard standing closest to them. He looked at Melanie with concern, then looked at Simon. Simon shook his head and looked back at the security guard.
"Do you have medical personnel on staff?" Simon asked worriedly. The security guard nodded and made a call on his radio for help. Everyone stopped what they were doing and watched as Simon and Emma gently guided Melanie toward a chair to sit down.
"Did she eat anything today?" Simon asked, catching Melanie as her legs gave out. She whimpered and clumsily tried to push Simon and Emma away.
"We couldn't get her to eat breakfast or lunch," Emma replied, attempting to grip Melanie's arm as she pushed her away. "All we could manage to get her to eat was a bit of fruit and then she refused to eat anything else."
Simon gently pulled Melanie over to a chair and turned her to face him so he could get her to sit down. Her legs gave out once more and she collapsed forward into him as she lost consciousness. He gently lowered her to the floor as two paramedics rushed into the room with a stretcher and a duffle bag full of supplies.
They knelt next to Melanie, listening as Simon let them know she hadn't eaten, and they checked her vitals and blood sugar. Melanie cringed as one paramedic pricked her finger and she slowly opened her eyes and looked around at the people surrounding her. She clumsily tried to push the paramedic away as he pulled her eyes open and flashed a light into them to check her pupils. The two paramedics tried to talk to her, but it was clear she wasn't coherent enough to know what was going on.
Emma chewed her fingernail nervously and watched as one of the paramedics prepared an injection and attempted to lift Melanie's shirt to get at her stomach. Melanie immediately began to cry and attempted to push her shirt back down, curling into a ball to keep the paramedic from touching her stomach.
"She's really sensitive about her stomach," Simon warned quietly as the paramedic attempted to get at her once more. The paramedic nodded and handed the injection to his partner before lifting Melanie's hips off the floor and getting Simon to help him pull Melanie's trackie bottoms down far enough to get at her thigh. He took the injection back from his partner and held Melanie's leg tightly as he injected the medicine into her muscle.
Melanie whimpered, still clutching her stomach and curling herself tightly into a ball. Simon and the paramedic pulled her bottoms back up and tried to keep her calm while they waited for the medication to take effect.
"That's it, just relax," the paramedic soothed as he stroked Melanie's arm and watched her begin to calm down. She stared off into space and panted, once again seeming to be unaware of anyone in the room with her.
"Is she okay?" Emma squeaked, looking anxiously at the paramedics.
"We'll check her blood sugar in a few minutes once the glucagon has had a chance to work," replied the paramedic that had injected Melanie. "She should be fine."
Simon stood up and motioned for Geri to take his place, knowing Melanie wouldn't be comfortable with him being so close once she was lucid.
"She might panic when she sees you," Geri warned, looking at the paramedics. "She's really scared of most people right now, especially men." The paramedics nodded and stood up, making their way behind Melanie and allowing Emma to sit where they had been sitting. Melanie looked up at her, seeming to become more aware of the people around her.
"Hi, honey," Emma greeted her softly. "Can you hear me?" Melanie nodded and looked worriedly at the crowd of people watching her. "It's okay," Emma assured her. "Are you feeling all right?" Melanie nodded and attempted to push herself up off the floor. Emma and Geri stepped in, allowing her to sit up, but not stand.
The paramedic handed Emma a bottle of apple juice and nodded toward Melanie. Melanie's eyes widened and she eagerly took the juice, immediately chugging the bottle and fighting against the girls as they tried to pull it away to slow her down.
"She never willingly eats or drinks anything," Emma stated, watching with confusion as Geri forced Melanie to stop drinking for a second. Melanie gripped the bottle tightly and pulled it back to her mouth to finish the juice.
"This is primal," the paramedic explained. "She's barely aware of what she's doing right now. Her body is desperate for any type of sustenance, and is overriding the anorexia.
"She's not anorexic," Emma clarified. "She's just afraid to eat right now."
"They don't mean she has the disorder, Em," Geri explained softly. "Anorexia is any time someone isn't eating." She took the empty bottle from Melanie and watched in amusement as Melanie looked around for something else to consume. "Let's give that a minute to settle," Geri chuckled. "We don't want you making yourself sick."
"Let's get a quick check to see how you're doing," said one of the paramedics from behind Melanie. She flinched and looked back fearfully, unaware that he had been behind her. He knelt next to her and introduced himself before taking her finger and explaining what he was going to do. "Just a quick little sting, okay?" he explained, watching Melanie to make sure she was ok with what he was about to do. She cringed as he pricked her finger, and watched worriedly as he took her blood sample and gave her a piece of cotton wool to hold on her finger.
"Everything looks good," he announced as he looked at the reading on the monitor. He and his partner packed up their things as Emma and Geri pulled Melanie to her feet. The paramedics stopped to speak with Simon, warning him and the girls that they would really need to work on getting Melanie to eat to prevent her health from declining. Simon thanked the paramedics and walked with them to the door as they left the room.
Melanie frowned and gingerly ran her hand along her thigh where the paramedic had stuck her. She had no idea what had happened or why her thigh was aching.
"Does it hurt?" Geri asked, running her hand along Melanie's shoulders. Melanie nodded and looked at her curiously. Geri smiled sadly and fixed Melanie's hair. "You scared us, sweetheart. Are you feeling all right now?" Melanie nodded once more and took Geri's hand as Geri let her know that she'd passed out because she refused to eat. She and Emma pulled Melanie over to the door where a security guard was waiting to take them to their private jet.
They walked out on the tarmac and filed into their jet. The crew and majority of the management team were taking a commercial plane, leaving both bands, Simon, and Sam to fly alone in the jet. The interior had two leather couches, a big screen TV, a bar, a large bathroom, and plush leather seats with wooden tables separating them.
Emma tried to coax Melanie to sleep on one of the couches, but Melanie ended up curling into a chair near the back of the plane and falling asleep before the plane took off. Nick and Brian immediately began playing video games on the big screen TV, keeping the volume low to keep from waking Melanie as Kevin lifted her out of her seat and laid her out on the couch where Emma was waiting to cover her with a blanket. Exhausted, Melanie slept through the move, completely unaware of what was happening.
Once they were in the air, Mel disappeared into the loo while everyone else found things to do to occupy their time for the flight. Simon was sitting on the couch across from Melanie, watching her anxiously as he phoned a hospital in Los Angeles to see if they should bring Melanie.
Mel closed the door of the toilet and walked back toward her seat. She was sitting opposite Geri with a table between the two of them. Geri was writing quickly in her notebook, scribbling things out and writing notes above the scribbles.
"What are you doing?" Mel asked, leaning over the table to get a better look at what Geri was writing.
"Making a new routine for Melanie," Geri replied. "She really likes the one she has now, so I'm adding some bits in here to get her speaking and eating."
Mel pulled the notebook away from Geri and raised one eyebrow skeptically.
"You think just because you've got it written on paper that she has to eat and speak, she's going to be ok with it?" Mel scoffed.
"No," Geri replied as she pulled the notebook back. "We're definitely going to have to fight with her for the first little while, but I'm sure she'll adapt eventually." Mel watched as Geri looked over the routine she'd written, making a few more adjustments before starting to write a good copy.
"Would it be easier if we pick the three words or should we leave it to her to choose them?" Mel asked. Geri looked at her notebook thoughtfully before looking back up at Mel.
"I really want to hear what she has to say," Geri replied honestly.