Melanie grinned encouragingly to Henry, hitting his shoulder that was closest to her lightly in a friendly act of kindness - or at least the closest Melanie could get herself to show her affection. “Don’t worry about that,” she spoke in her usually go-happy tone, “remember we are just going up against a bunch of fanatics to have some sort of hate towards everyone - I bet even a rookie like you could take them out single-handedly!”.
Her grin widened as she winked playfully at him, hoping that her joking could help him get his mind off whatever might happen - after all none of them could actually predict what might happen in the near future, but if one of them was crippled with dark thoughts and uneasiness the whole group might fail. 

“Plus,” she spoke after a short break, her eyes now focused on the deeper parts of the fire in front of them, the tone in her voice now filled with a solemn tone, “what happened last time with… Daisy was…” her voice became quieter with each word that escaped her, even breaking as she was uncertain whether or not she should actually speak of this - after all it might bring back the dark memories of the events that had let to a member of Sector V’s death in the hand of the The Omegas. “...Special” she finally got herself to say, letting the word hang in the air for a brief moment before she carried on, her voice this time much brighter: “So don’t worry! This time I am certain that those pesky Omegas won’t show up - and if they do: why don’t you then teach them a lesson with that crowbar of yours!” 
This time her grin was back on her face as she let Henry have one more of her famous winks, but it soon became apparent to Melanie that she shouldn’t worry that much about it as Henry spoke to her in a brighter tone.

[i]"How are you holding up?"[/i]

“How am I holding up?” Melanie asked, somehow his question threw her off balance. How was she? She felt like grinning widely, accompanying the motion with a reassuring joke about how she was alway ‘just so awesome’ - however this wasn’t the case. Instead of grinning she gazed deep into the fire, memories of her past flashing through her: her time in the ‘streets’ with the other ‘Rats’, the rough life of surviving day to day, constantly on the run - and not the exciting run she took part off with the other Runners - and how she had later been discovered by ‘Father’. Truly she wasn’t ‘O.K’, not even close.

“Oh you know,” she coughed, forcing her voice not to break as she continued, “these parts of New London just brings back a lot of…”
She tried. She [i]really[/i] tried, but she couldn’t help it: her voice broke mid-sentence. It took her a little while to get it back, and through sheer determination she forced the word up through her throat. “Memories”.
She tried to smile energetically as she tore eyes away from the fire to look at Henry, but her smile and eyes reflected the sadness in her tone - luckily she was saved by none other than their great leader Churchill Gunner.

[i]"Eat up, gang: Ain't every day we get a hot meal! And afterwards, wrap yourself and get some rest." [/i]

“Well looks like it is time to hit the bed,” Melanie spoke once Church had finished, “wouldn’t want to be the target of the great Churchill’s rage, now would we!” 
This time her voice had taken on her usual cheery tone, grinning at the others before she finished her food - if that was what you would call it. When she was done forcing the ‘food’ down her throat she once again hit Henry playfully on the shoulder.

“Rest up Henry,” she said, this time looking straight into his eyes, “and don’t worry too much about the past, okay?”

With that she got up and laid herself down on the thin sheet of cloth that was her bed, turning her back to the fire and the others as she stared into the shadow of herself that was reflected onto the granite wall - and before she knew it she had fallen into a restless dream filled with memories of her past.