Come Back For Me : Chapter One
Danny Wagner x Melody (Fem OC)
Warnings: Cute wholesome mom & daughter bonding time, the Kiszka Twins, mentions of death/grieving, ASL is used throughout this fic, and a little reminiscing.
Word Count: 3k
Summary: Melody is out with Iris, thinking that they’re just running some errands. Well, that is until some familiar faces from her past abruptly change the course of her day.
Author's Note: AND WERE BACK, BABY!
I’m excited to give you this story and finally get Danny and Mel on the map for everyone. This is a pretty hefty shift from where I last left you— but I think it’ll be a fun change for all of us 😏🤭
*Disclaimer- this story comes before Charlotte exists. There is an order to these stories, but my brain simply couldn’t behave when writing. If you have questions, my DM’s are always open!*
Older - Gracie Abrams "I went quiet, And you went cold, Guess that happened when we got older."
Nothing has changed.
Walking through this Hannaford, all I see are the same employees; the store hasn’t been renovated and it feels like I’ve been transported back to high school. Running through the aisles with the boys, hoping not to get kicked out. It’s shocking the things we got away with then.
Flash forward at least four years later; I’m toting my daughter around to grab a few things that we need for dinner. She’s content in the cart with her little stuffed animal, so I can quickly grab what I need. Thank god, honestly. I’m pretty sure she just enjoys hanging out with me at this point; we’re best friends, in my head at least. She doesn’t really have a choice right now.
Not having a job means that I can come here in the middle of the day when nobody else is here– not that Maine is that busy in general, to be quite honest. After a few years of living on the outskirts of Boston, everywhere feels like a ghost town to me. Not being stuck in ungodly traffic is nice, though, I’ll take the wins where I can get them these days.
Rolling up to the cashier, the lady smiles at Iris and waves. Don’t do it, I think to myself.
“Hi, sweetheart. Do you want a sticker?” And you did it.. Okay.
I tap Iris’s arm lightly, her adorable little face glancing up at me.
‘Do you want a sticker?’ I sign to her. Her smile was enough, but she nodded quickly with a little ‘mmm’ sound.
“She would love one,” I tell the cashier, smiling softly at her. Iris reached out to take it from her and signed ‘Thank you’ back to her. I hesitate but then spit out, “Oh, um, she says thank you.”
“Well, she’s very welcome.”
The rest of the interaction was pretty quiet as she rang us up. I don’t mind when people want to talk to her, but we’re both learning ASL together, so it’s not always easy.
‘Mom wants coffee,’ I tell her as I buckle her into her car seat. She just giggles back at me while I pretend to fall asleep. I don’t know what I did right in order to have a generally happy child, but I thank god every day for it. She loves being out of the house, which bodes well when you’re the only parent.
‘Ready?’ I ask her, peeking in the rearview mirror to see her nodding.
Driving through the Old Port is always weird, knowing these places and how to get there, but not having done so in so long. I missed this. All the brick buildings, the small locally owned stores, and the restaurants, are definitely something I longed for while living in a city.
It only takes a few minutes to get reasonably close to the coffee shop I’ve been craving. Finding parking can be a pain with all the one-way streets but, thankfully, this time of day isn’t terrible. Packing and unpacking my child is one of my many talents at this point— my arms have never been so toned in my life.
She knows just to stand close to me while I lock the car. Once the little honk sound happens, I pull her up to spare myself the outrageously slow walk. Before I can even finish situating her, my heart jumps into my throat.
“Melody?”
I haven’t been back here all that long and somehow haven’t really run into anybody that I would talk to. It was all of two seconds before I turned to see him, but I felt frozen in the moment. I haven’t had to introduce anybody to Iris yet, and I was kind of hoping to avoid it a little longer. My head whips around, not expecting to see him. Josh?
“Oh my god, hi!” Not thinking I would be so excited, I moved a little closer to him, shifting Iris up onto my hip.
His voice sounds the same when he asks, “How are you, dear?”
“Oh, I’m okay,” I tell him, shaking my head subtly. Before I can return the question, I see his mouth ready to fire off another question.
“Who is this?” He gestures to Iris, not getting too close to her yet. I can see her eyeing his hair already, though.
I move some of her curls to make sure her sweet face is visible before telling him, “Her name’s Iris.” She just beams at him. Tapping her belly and then doing a little wave at him, she takes her turn to wave.
I know that Josh loves kids; he always has– probably because he just a big kid himself. His eyes light up when she looks at him and he just coos at her little smile.
“How old is she? Hi, beautiful,” He asks but is immediately distracted by her.
I laugh as I watch him, “She’s three, but she can’t hear you.”
His eyebrows shoot up, “Deaf?”
“Practically, she’s in the severe hearing loss category. We don’t know what happened, but she’s a happy little thing regardless.”
‘Nice to meet you,’ Josh signs slowly to her, making her laugh and lean against my shoulder.
All the thoughts in my head halted as he signed to her. I blankly stared at him for a second before I asked, “You.. know ASL?”
“I was friends with one of the Deaf students in a college class, just picked up on it,” he tells me, with a shrug.
Suddenly, it hits me. There is a whole person attached to him. Quickly looking over to them and spitting out, “I’m sorry– I’m Melody, and you are?”
“Quinn! I didn’t want to interrupt,” they respond sweetly; the smile on them could light up a room. I don’t know how to describe the outfit they’re wearing, but it is very clear to me why them and Josh work together. The two of them just look cute together; I can’t imagine that Quinn wouldn’t be a creative person if they were in a relationship with Josh.
“Ahh, yes! This is my partner! I was caught off guard by the little angel,” Josh chimed back in, looking over to Quinn with a quiet, “Sorry, bug– I haven’t seen Melody since.. Oh goodness, has it actually been four years?”
“Probably,” I sigh. “God, that’s so long?”
He nods, letting out quietly, “It is, it is. When did you move back?”
“It’s a long story, but,” I breathe out. “I just moved in with my dad and this one.”
I had been living in the Boston area for college with my mother. She moved down there when I found out I was pregnant with Iris to help make sure everything went smoothly. It was wonderful getting that time together; nothing prepares you for being a mom, so having mine with me at the beginning was incredibly helpful.
She unfortunately had been sick for a while, and I lost her a few months back. It’s hard to think about, but I’m glad she’s not miserable anymore. Living in Boston as a single mom just became unreasonable. Plus, staying in the area was just making me depressed. So, I came home and moved in with my dad.
He took us in happily– I don’t know who needed it more. The three of us have fun together so I’m sure he’s excited to get some time with Iris, especially now that she’s at a fun age. It’s a different dynamic with him, obviously, but I appreciate the fact that he was so willing to help us out.
“Well, I’m so sorry it’s not the happiest of reasons, but it’s nice to see your face again,” Josh’s hand landing on my arm as he tells me.
“It’s okay,” I say, with a slight smile, so Iris can’t pick up on what’s being said. Chuckling as I tell him, “The worst part is trying to find a fucking job at this point.”
“Oh!” he basically yelps, tapping my arm a few times. “You know what.. Give my boss a call. I think we’re actually hiring.” Winking at me– that’s suspicious.
“That would be amazing?” Surprised that he was so quick to help. I hand him my phone, “Just text me the number, and I’ll call in a little bit.” Watching him happily add his number to my phone and text himself quickly.
“There you go, darling,” he says, handing it back to me. “I’m sure we have something that you could do, but we will let you get going so Miss Iris doesn’t get too antsy!”
Carefully pulling him into a side hug, I whisper, “Thank you so much, really.”
“Anything to help,” he says, his smile beams at Iris as he reaches out to gently give her hand a little squeeze.
“Nice meeting you,” I say, smiling at Quinn. “I’m sure I’ll be seeing you around!”
They excitedly let out, “Yes you too!!”
Both of them waving at Iris and giggling as she tucks her face against me– she is the biggest flirt known to man I swear. She gives them a small wave back before we start our trek to find coffee. Breathing out more air than I expected, a small smile creeps onto my face. Maybe things will turn around a little quicker than I thought.
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We take our time walking to grab some coffee, looking into all the shop windows as she points out things she likes or thinks are funny. It does not take much to make you laugh when you’re three.
I never thought I would want a child so young, but honestly, she’s probably the best thing that happened to me. Definitely put a lot of things into perspective for me and I feel like I have a better grasp of who I am now.
She makes me laugh all the time, especially because of how friendly she is to everyone. I swear she wants to befriend anyone who holds eye contact for more than a second. Lucky for her, she’s adorable, so people aren’t one to say ‘no’ to that.
She batted her lashes at the nice barista taking our order but got shy when he waved at her. Grabbing my coffee and her snack from the end of the counter, we found a seat outside. She’s three. I can’t let her eat this cookie inside and watch the nice employees sigh when they see how many crumbs are about to hit the ground.
‘Good?’ I ask her.
She just grins up at me, still chewing the bite she took. I’ll take that as a yes. Sipping on my coffee as she picks away at this cookie, just enjoying the sun for a few minutes.
I pulled my phone out and saw a text sitting there.
Josh: Hi! Here’s the boss’s number :) I’ll let him know that you’ll be calling so he knows to keep an eye out for you!
Me: thank you again!
Once she’s about destroyed the cookie, I hold her out and wiggle her around a few times, making her laugh. I do not need more cookie crumbs getting squished into her car seat. Her laugh could brighten anyone’s day; she truly is such a good kid.
Walking a different way back to the car so she can have fun looking at new store windows. It’s a lot of her pointing, and me trying to decipher what she’s pointing at.
Something about the Old Port just makes me feel at home. To be fair, we spent a lot of time in this area, between trying to sneak into bars for local shows and going on dates once Daniel had his license.
He really was such a good boyfriend back in the day. Always giving me rides, even if I told him it wasn’t a big deal. He would take me to different restaurants out here all the time after he started his first job. Parking in the first spot he could find, just as an excuse to have to walk so we could spend more time together.
It’s hard to believe we were so inseparable for so long, and now, I haven’t said a single word to him in at least four years. But it’s okay, really. Times have changed, and I have more important things to worry about now— like how I desperately hope this kid falls asleep on the drive home.
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I took the longest way home, and my plan worked. Peeking into my rearview mirror to see her sweet face out cold, thank god. Not that it’s the worst to do things while she’s awake, but when I want to focus on something important, the last thing I need is her trying to get me to play or, even worse, have a meltdown.
Carefully scooping her up out of the car seat, we manage to make it inside with her still asleep. I slip into her room and tuck her into bed so I can hopefully get this phone call done. As I go to leave, I whisper, “Love you, baby.”
Practically falling into the couch, I stare at the texts from Josh. It would really be so helpful if I could work with him. It is very much Josh to do something like this. He has such a pure heart; too much love in that heart of his.
“Just call him,” I whisper, in hopes that I can pep talk myself. You need this for Iris. Everything I do at this point is to make sure she gets the life she deserves; becoming a mom has really shifted a lot of my perspective on things.
Tapping on the number, here goes nothing– I listen to it ring maybe twice before they pick up.
“Hello?”
I take a shallow breath before saying, “Hi, this is Melody. Josh gave me your number because you may be hiring?”
“Mel! Yes, he mentioned bumping into you— how are you?” Why does he sound familiar..? Oh–
“Wait..” I hesitate before asking, “Jake?”
He just hums back a quiet “Mhmm.”
“Oh god, he must have given me your number by accident,” I say with a sigh, my hand immediately rubbing over my face.
He sighs along with me, “Did he not tell you?”
“Tell me what?”
“Ah, for fucks sake, Josh— he works for me,” he tells me.
“Oh?” I squeak out, whispering, “I figured it would end up the other way around, but..doing what?”
“I’m gonna pretend I didn’t hear that,” he breathes out. “I own a bar in the Old Port. He bartends for me.”
“Oh shit, sorry,” I let out an uncomfortable laugh. “You would own a bar.” Thinking of the handful of parties I’d attended where he was a bit more drunk than I’m sure he’d like to admit.
“I’m not that wild anymore,” his soft giggle along with me, telling me, “I do absolutely need more help though if you are interested.”
“I don’t really know what I could do, but I am desperate.”
Jake has always been the calmer of the two, so it was less shocking when he asked, “Why don’t you swing by tomorrow if you have a chance, and we can figure something out?”
“Are you sure?” I know I probably sound nervous, but shit, if I can get a job with people I know, that would be amazing.
He chuckles, “Of course, I’m sure.”
“Okay,” I breathe out quietly. “I really appreciate it.”
Jake and I were never particularly close growing up, but I did spend an awful lot of time around him. Well, with all of them, honestly– given that Daniel is best friends with Sam, and Sam always wanted his brothers around, the five of us did a lot together.
Jake was typically overshadowed by his brothers because he was the quieter one, which makes picturing him owning a bar even harder. But I definitely know the other two very well. I was a little surprised at how pleasant Josh was, even going as far as offering me a potential job.
I never had issues with Josh, but given the situation with Daniel, I figured he would have been more hesitant. To be fair, it’s been a while since I’ve seen him, and maybe he’s still the same Josh that I knew growing up. God—I hope he is.
It makes me wonder how Daniel is doing, but not enough to try to reach out to him. We haven’t spoken since the night we broke up, but now that I’m back here, I feel like it’s only a matter of time before I run into him.
“Just let me know when you’re gonna head over,” Jake’s voice brings me back to the conversation. “I’m always in the bar, so whenever you have time, works for me.”
It feels like a weight has been taken off my chest. I nod my head, as if he can see it, saying, “Of course. Thank you so much. I will see you tomorrow.”
The sense of relief, knowing that there’s a chance I’ll have some sort of a job in the next twenty-four hours, is unexplainable. I never thought I would spend time with the Kiszka twins as an adult, but I’ve never been more excited to see them. They were always fun to be around, even if the chaos was a bit overwhelming sometimes. I just can’t shake the feeling that where there’s a Kiszka, Daniel will probably come around. It’s been years; I think I can handle it, even if he does show up at some point. I’d like to believe it’s been enough time since we spoke that we could be adults about everything. Also, it’s been so long at this point; there’s no chance he could still be upset.. Right? I kind of want to see him eventually, not like that, but we spent so much time together that we could at least be friends now.. maybe. There’s no use in dwelling on it; we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.
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Chapter Two
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