Helping People

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Scene Title Helping People
Synopsis Melissa dreams of being in the position to help someone— and experiences a moment she's heard about before.
Date April 14, 2011

In Dreams


There's always so much to do. Paperwork spreads out on a desk in front of her, files upon files. Letters in a pile that still need to be answered, even more letters that haven't been opened and read.

Being in charge of charities had always been one of the many things Melissa wanted to do with her life.

That doesn't make the work less.

The office door cracks open a bit, a small shadow hiding the line of light as a eye peeks through the door-crack. No knock, no announcement, just a shy interruption.

Being helpful really is a pain in the ass, but at least it means Melissa can go home feeling good about herself. When the door opens she glances up, head tilting as she tries to look at the face through the crack, smiling. "Hi. Come on in," she says, sitting down the paper in her hand and leaning back slightly.

"Mom?" a little voice says, while the door opens a little more to present a small five year old boy. Dark blonde hair sits upon his head, blue eyes wide and bright, carrying a newspaper in his hands as he looks further into the room, and up toward the desk, and the woman behind it. "Are— are you busy?"

"Not at all, baby," Melissa says, smiling warmly and scooting her chair back, motioning for the little boy to come over to her. She holds her arms out, scooping him up once he's close enough, kissing his hair as she settles him in her lap. "Whatcha need, honey?"

"I— I wanted to know if… will we have time to go ice skating this month?" the boy asks, voice quiet timid and careful. The newspaper in his hand is turned around to an article about a local ice rink reopening.

But it's months old.

Melissa tilts her head, resting it lightly against the boy's, taking the paper and looking over it. "Hmm. I'd certainly like to…but you know I've never been. We'd both be falling on our butts the whole time," she says, smiling and giving him a gentle squeeze. "You sure you don't wanna do something else, baby?"

"Can we do it later then?" the small voice asks, even though he's leaning into the hold. Blue eyes blink a few times, but there seems a hint of disappointment still there, the kind that kids get when they find out they can't have a cookie. "We can always learn together…"

It's clear that the pain manipulator is a sucker for those blue eyes, and Melissa sets the paper aside, wrapping both arms around him and rocking gently. "I can't promise anything, but I'll definitely see if I can make my schedule fit. But you know I'm busy helping people, Cade. And you know that you should always try to help people, anytime you can. It's how you got your uncle Kendall, remember? I helped him when he was little," she murmurs.

"Uncle Kendall talks about it, yeah," Cade says in the same shy tones, but then wraps his arms around the taller woman's neck and hugs onto her. "You help a lot of people," he says.

As she hugs him, her eyes slide past his head toward a pictures on the wall. One of the big pictures hanging from the wall shows her in her wedding dress, standing next to face she's known for many years.

Bradley Russo.

Blue eyes don't linger on that picture long before Melissa's giving her full attention to Cade, smiling, still rocking him. "I try. And hope that when you grow up you help a lot of people too. We're supposed to help people less fortunate, or less able to help themselves. You know how I make your booboos feel better? It's because I love you, but the ability that lets me do that? It gives me a responsibility to help others."

"I want to help people someday," Cade says, smiling as he looks toward the big pile of paperwork on the desk. "Can I help now?" he gestures toward the desk and all the work. "I can throw things in the trash for you."

Melissa laughs softly and gives him a hug and another kiss on his forehead. "Of course you can, baby. Unfortunately not all of that is trash." But she does select a few pages to give to him. "You're gonna do me proud, baby boy. I just know it."


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