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“Melanie, hold up!”
Daisy catches up to Melanie and smiles brightly when she comes to a halt and turns around to face her.
“Hey, I was just looking for you. I was thinking for lunch today maybe we could-” Daisy finally notices Melanie’s expression and feels her own smile slide off her face. “Oh.”
“Yeah.”
“Oh,” Daisy repeats. “Um.” She fumbles around for an appropriate response. “Good for you?”
Melanie smiles wryly. “That’s the plan.”
Daisy tentatively smiles back. “I’m sorry, this is all a bit-”
“Weird? Yeah.”
“I was going to say “soon”, but that, too.” Daisy takes a deep breath, her chest feeling too small for her lungs all of a sudden. “So. Where were you going to…?”
“You know that storage room I used to sleep in?”
“Wait, you’re doing it here?”
“Yeah. It’s where Basira and Jon pulled that bullet out of my leg. If I’m going to… you know, exorcise myself again…”
Daisy exhales. “I guess that seems appropriate.”
“Also, if I do it at the Institute there’s a higher chance of Elias seeing it, which-”
Daisy nods. “Fuck him.”
“Fuck him,” Melanie agrees.
Daisy grins at that before the reality of the situation hits her again. “So do you… is there anything I can do to help?”
Melanie shakes her head. “I think I should do this myself.”
“I’m sorry I can’t come with you. It’s just…”
Melanie smiles at her sadly. “No, I get it, you have your own shit to deal with first. I’m sorry I can’t stay to help.”
“Hey, no, you getting out of here is a good thing. I wouldn’t want you to stay behind for my sake.”
“Like Basira’s doing?” Melanie guesses.
“Basira’s- I don’t know. I think she feels like she has some leverage while she’s in the Archives, and I’m a convenient excuse for her not to leave.” Realising how that sounds, she adds, “Not that I don’t think she’d stay for me! It’s just…”
“Complicated,” Melanie surmises.
“Yeah.” Daisy shakes herself out of it. “You shouldn’t worry about us, though.”
“Too late,” Melanie says with a small shrug. “You know how caring about people works, right?”
Daisy smiles and nods at her. “I do. That’s why you should get out of here. Go be happy, you’ve earned it.”
She suddenly finds herself enveloped in a hug. Her own arms shake slightly as she wraps them around Melanie, and she’s not sure if she can blame it on her weakened limbs this time.
“Gonna miss you, Miss King.”
Melanie’s laugh is muffled by Daisy’s shoulder. “I’m not gonna miss that, but… I’ll miss you, too. Thanks for making the past half year slightly more bearable.”
Daisy surreptitiously wipes a sleeve across her face, then lets go to look Melanie in the eyes one last time. As she does, she notices that Melanie, too, seems to be trembling. The smile on her face, however, reassures Daisy that she's completely certain.
“I should go,” Melanie says. “Would be a bit awkward if the ambulance showed up and I’m still- you know.”
“Right.”
“Good luck with everything, Daisy.”
“You too. Call me if you’re ever looking for someone to get drinks with. Or just… Call me. Whenever.”
“I will,” Melanie replies, and Daisy’s relieved to find that she seems to mean it, that she’s not really losing her, however final this might feel.
Melanie takes a deep breath, nods decisively, and with one last smile at Daisy, she’s off.