Chapter Text
It takes both Bennett and Layton to pull her inside.
The suit is heavy and out of power, and the cold lock isn’t very large to begin with. It takes five minutes of finagling to get her body past the lock, then another ten to get Melanie out of the suit. She’s unconscious: Bennett and Layton have to work together to take it off. Bennett holds her up while Layton peels it away. She’s breathing—just barely. Small patches of her body are burned from the cold, but she looks remarkably alright. The first-aid kit proves to be useful: Bennett covers Melanie with the thermal foil. The tension is so thick it could be cut with a knife; as everyone waits for Melanie to stir—or not. Alex realises disconnectedly that both Till and Josie are holding her hands. Both of them are watching her mom intently—Josie has tears in her eyes.
Several seconds pass in silence. Melanie is so past feeling cold that she’s stopped shivering. Half-catatonic. Just when Alex has almost lost any hope that her mom’s not in a coma, Melanie takes in a strangled gasp, then dissolves into a fit of coughing. Bennett manages to wrestle her into an oxygen mask, and the spasm tapers off as she takes deep desperate gulps of the oxygen. After a few seconds of this, Melanie’s gaze flicks over to the assembled group—her eyes are open, watchful and alert. Alex feels her stomach drop; her mom is alive. The effect on everyone is almost immediate. Even Bennett, ever stoic, is crying. “Mel,” is all he can say. “Mel.”
Melanie’s first question is not for the train, or for the engineers, or even Alex, but instead: “Did it work?”
“Yes,” Bennett sobs. He takes her hand ever so tenderly. “Yes, it worked, you did so well. We got the data, everything. You did it, Melanie. You can rest now.” He turns back to Alex, waves her over. “Mel, it’s Alex. She’s alright, she’s safe, she’s with us.”
Alex goes closer. Her heart breaks at the sight of her mom—Melanie looks exhausted, but it’s temporary. Unchanged are those intent green eyes, which lock on to Alex’s with an intensity she hasn’t experienced in a very long time. “Allie,” her mom croaks. Melanie’s voice is so weak and it’s muffled by the mask, but Alex would know her name anywhere.
“Mom,” she half-sobs, then she promptly bursts into tears. Alex has a brief thought that she might be worrying her mom and everyone else, but she can’t find it in herself to care. She has her mom back. Nothing else matters. They can get rid of Wilford. Everything can be fixed. Alex curls up on top of her mom, being careful not to hurt her. Melanie’s hand is cold, and shaky, but Alex takes it anyway, presses it against her face. “Mom,” she sobs again. Melanie doesn’t hear her: she’s passed out again. Alex doesn’t care. They have all the time in the world now, and nothing will stop her from having this. Alex listens to the certain pulse of her mom’s heart, watching the sun slide out from behind a cloud.
There is all the time in the world.
After the initial excitement wears off, everyone drifts away to leave Alex and her mom alone. Josie and Till sit at the far end of the bunk room, conversing in low voices. Layton and Bennett analyse the climate data together. Eventually they all go to sleep, but Alex ignores everyone’s suggestion to do the same. “She’s safe with us now,” Bennett had whispered to her, but she’d shaken him off. She’ll never leave her mom again. Soon it is just them, alone. The sun sinks behind the mountains, and the bunk room grows dark. Melanie stays asleep, the only sign of life being the slight rise and fall of her chest. Alex refuses to take her eyes off it. When the tiredness becomes too much to ignore, she drags out a sleeping bag and sets herself up next to her mom. When Alex pulls her mom into her arms, Melanie snuffles a little bit before slipping back into deeper sleep. Alex stays awake like that for a while, relishing the feeling of just being with her, alone, with no existential danger to befall them.
Alex knows that the Snowpiercer they come back to will not be good. It will be full of Wilford loyalists, the engines will probably be shot, and Wilford himself will be there hell-bent on enacting revenge. However, Alex can’t find it in herself to be scared about what they will find on the train. Melanie’s body is warm and her breaths are steady. After seven years they are together; after seven years, Alex will never let herself be separated from her mom again.
Alex closes her eyes, holds her mom close, and waits for the next morning to come.