not kelly clarkson

She sighs deeply. "I'm sitting on the couch, drinking champagne and watching our show after an emotional day, wishing you were here." 

"I helped move Becca into Middle Hill this afternoon. The apartment feels empty without her." There's a pause. "She's so excited about living there, and I know she needs her independence. But now I'm alone because both of you are gone," she adds sadly. 

"Luckily, I have my first day at work tomorrow. So, I think I'll be too busy to miss her," the woman says. "It will also be nice to meet everyone. I… have a good feeling about this placement."

"Anyways, goodnight. I love you, and I'll call tomorrow night after my shift," she concludes. "Miss you in the saddest fashion. You're 5,000 candles in the wind."

When the message ends, Langdon sends a text to the woman letting her know she left a voicemail at the wrong number. He at least hoped she would then get in touch with the person the message was intended for.

She’s apologetic and explains that the number belonged to her mother, who had recently passed away. Not realizing it was already in use by someone else. 

Langdon is enthralled by their conversation as they continue to text back and forth. Learning that her name is Mel King and that she's from Pittsburgh. She's about to begin her second year of medical residency, just finishing a rotation at the VA. Mel also shares that Becca is her twin sister, who is on the spectrum.

During the conversation, Mel confides in him how close she was to her mother. Explaining that they spent all of their time together after her mother became ill. While her mother was hospitalized, they found comfort in watching the workplace sitcom Mel referenced in her voicemail together.

Before rounds the next morning, Robby summons Langdon to the charting station to introduce a new resident. He smiles in recognition when Robby states, "Meet Mel King. Second year resident joining us straight from the VA." 

Langdon snaps his fingers and points at her enthusiastically, exclaiming, "Mel King! It's lit'rally so great to meet you, I'm Dr. Langdon.” This earns him a bright smile in recognition from Mel in return. 

"It's an inside thing," Langdon declares without explanation when Robby gives him a look as though he has two heads.

Mel laughs. “This was your idea.”

“Yeah, and that's what makes me so confident in saying it was a bad one.”

“I could just tell you now, if you want to avoid all this,” she offers sweetly, not for the first time.

He's wanted to let her a hundred times. But he'd been insistent on wanting a surprise. He can't back down now.

Mel had been adamant on watching the ultrasound last week. And even though Frank kept his hand on her growing belly the whole time, he'd refused to look, insisting she only make him if anything was amiss. He'd felt her tense, and relished in her tiny gasps as the answer was revealed, but she'd given him no actual hints.

He'd been trying to gauge her mood all week. She cried during Penny’s daily Bluey binge – did that mean the baby was a boy? There were suddenly a hundred new items on the baby registry. Did that somehow mean it was a girl?

“No,” he says, finally. “This will be fun. But I probably should've picked something with less clean up.”

Mel nods in agreement. “Probably,” she grins. “That'll be fun for you.”

“Okay,” he laughs, loud enough to get everyone else’s attention. “Let's do this, guys. Let's count to three—”

Blue confetti bursts in a heavy cloud around Tanner before he's even started counting, and then a second later, pink confetti is raining in wild streams over Penny.

“Wait, what?” Frank asks, looking at Mel. “Did they mess up your order?”

Mel’s biting her lip, which is normally distractingly cute. She shakes her head.

“But… those are two different colors.” He feels dumb, and maybe a little faint.

“Surprise,” Mel whispers, stepping closer and bringing his hand to her stomach. “Blue for twin A,” and then a little lower, “and pink for twin B.”

“That's two babies.”

Mel smiles gently. “Commonly called twins.”

“We're having twins,” he finally says, amazement slowly edging out the all-encompassing shock.

Oh, okay, that tone. As if she was weird about this. She crosses her arms. “You’ve been separated for over three years.” 

“Mel…”

No, he started this. “My colleagues all think you’re my husband and that I just never wear my ring to work."

“Sunshine, we talked about this. You know Abby’s conditions for shared custody.”  

Mel snorts. “Abby has no idea how recovery works. And a judge always asks the kids what they want. They love you. ...I just really wanted to be married to you before any of this,” she gestures at her heavy stomach, “and I know I forgot the pill, but it’s not fair.” 

“I know, baby. I’m sorry. I can’t risk losing my kids.” 

She cradles her bump. He sighs. “I’m almost done with my PHP. I’ll stay home, impress Abby, and then my lawyer will get everything started. It’ll look good to the judge. I know it’s hard, Mel, but we’re almost there.” 

It’s well-practiced. What he never includes: that he can’t wait to marry her too. 

“I’m done talking now,” she replies and avoids his eyes for the entire way home.

He drops her off at their freshly cleaned apartment, then rides off into the sunset at Abby's house. An hour later, her phone lights up with photos from bedtime as she pulls the brand-new maternity pajamas that he bought and washed over her bump. She places her phone face-down on the nightstand, then hides from her guilt under the blankets. Later, she wakes up to the key in the door. Vivid images of Frank fucking Abby in his old home linger in her throat like acid reflux. Her tears stay trapped behind her eyelids. A few minutes later, he slips under the blanket and curls up behind her body. He leaves a kiss on her shoulder and whispers, “I’m sorry, baby. I love you. Your ring is waiting in my suit jacket, if you want to see it.” 

“Day shift, take good care of her,” was all Abbot said. He sounded pleasant but vaguely threatening, which was a balance he managed to strike with ease.

“Yeah, yeah,” Robby called after Abbot, never one to miss a chance to tease his friend. “We all know that you’re proud of your stepdaughter.”

There was a crash behind them, and everyone gathered at the central desk turned to look. A tall man with dark hair was hastily gathering up the container of pens he’d knocked over. Mel caught the side of his face and as he turned, she saw his chin dimple and what had to be the bluest eyes. She knew those eyes—

Robby’s eyebrows went up. “You good, Langdon?”

Dr. Frank Langdon glanced at Mel and then cleared his throat. “Yeah, I’m good.”

Mel only just managed to hold back her squeak of surprise. She was intimately familiar with that jaw line and that chin dimple and those blue eyes.

She’d spent the entire previous weekend in bed with Frank Langdon, after all.

Despite it being her first day as an intern, Mel managed to sneak away to the break room for a moment. She plucked a tissue from the box on the table, twisting it and shredding it with nervous fingers. She balled up all the little pieces in her fist, wondering how it was possible that she was in this mess.

Mel wanted to take more risks and put herself out there more. When Frank’s blue eyes fell on her in that bar, she jumped in feet first in a way that surprised even her. It’d been easy to do so, with the way he looked at her and smiled at her and listened to her and touched her. She certainly hadn’t expected to see him at her new job.

“Hey, Mel. You okay?”

Letting out a squeak of surprise, Me accidentally threw the tissue she’d been shredding. The little pieces of tissue rained down like confetti, like her own little party of embarrassment.

She looked up at Frank, seeing the smile that twitched at his lips. Swallowing hard, Mel licked her lips.

“Hi, Frank.”

He stepped closer. “We should talk.”

“Talk about what?” Mel blurted.