frank offers to drive mel home after a long shift but mel’s asleep before they’ve even left the parking lot (she was practically dozing off on her feet by the time their shift ended) and becca’s staying at the center overnight and something about seeing her sleep so soundly and peacefully on his passenger’s seat —something about the fact that she trusts him enough to fall asleep while he drives— makes frank’s heart swell, makes it impossible for him to wake up mel as he pulls up to her apartment complex.
so he just keeps driving, he drives and he drives, music playing faintly in the background, the heater keeping them both comfortably warm in a cold winter evening; he drives until he’s about an hour away from central pittsburgh, until mel starts to stir in the passenger seat.
“frank?” she mumbles, stretching her arms in front of her and stifling a yawn.
“good morning sweetheart,” he whispers, turning to look at her as the traffic lights turn red.
her hair’s messy against the car seat, her neat braid long gone, frank’s free hand finds his home in mel’s hair, tangling his fingers through it as the light turns green.
mel unconsciously leans into his touch, and frank feels the corners of his mouth tug upwards. “where are we?” she asks, turning her body towards the center console.
“i actually have no idea,” he confesses, dropping his hand to the back of mel’s neck, thumb pushing into the dip on her nape. “i didn’t want to wake you up,” frank whispers.
“thank you,” mel mumbles, bringing her feet up to the seat and curling around her body. “let’s go home, you need to rest as well,” she adds.
frank drops his hand from mel’s nape only to grab her hand, smiling as mel immediately threads their fingers together. “yeah, okay,” he whispers, bringing their joint hands up to his mouth to press a few kisses against the back of mel’s hand.