My Last Life

Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own The Host or any of it's characters.

When I opened my eyes, the first thing I saw was him. Just like every morning since I woke up in this body, I saw Ian. He was looking at me with the same loving look that he always did, but something was different.

"What," I asked.

"Oh," he started, "I was just looking at you. Is there something wrong with that?" He leaned down and kissed my forehead.

"No, you just looked different for some reason."

His lips moved from my forehead to my lips. He kissed me gently. I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him closer. He felt so much bigger than me in this body. He rolled on top of me and slipped his tongue in my mouth. His hand slid up the back of my shirt and unsnapped my bra. I moved my hand down to his chest, then to the hem of his shirt and took it off. Suddenly, I was overcome by the feeling that this wasn't normal. This didn't usually happen in the morning. I put my hands on his chest and pushed him just a few inches from my face.

"Ok," I began, "tell me what's going on."

"What? I can't kiss you?"

"Well, of course, but I can't shake this feeling that something is bothering you. Seriously, Ian. Tell me what's going on."

"Fine. I was just watching you sleep and was thinking about how lucky I was to find you. How lucky I was that Melanie was so strong and brought you here. I can't imagine my life without you. This is so impossible, but you are the person, soul, that I want to spend the rest of my life with and I want to make it official. Now I know weddings are sort of out of date, but I want to have one with you. Jeb can officiate…"

"Ian, what are you saying?"

"I want to marry you Wanda. I want you to be my wife and spend the rest of my life with you. I want you to be the mother of my child and teach him about the universe. I want to be a family and I want you to be my family."

He reached to my face to wipe away the tears I hadn't realized were falling. I was at a loss for words and couldn't speak. All I could do was kiss him. When he pulled away and I opened my eyes, he was smiling. His eyes were burning. I could feel my knees quiver.

"Of course I will marry you!"

We made love for the first time. I had been so scared until now. I still wasn't used to the physical drives the human body possesses. I had never been able to push myself past kissing, but now, it felt right. Like there was no one in the world I would rather be with. Like we were the only people in the world.

We were lying in bed and Ian was fast asleep. I couldn't help but stare at this face that I loved so much I would die for it and he for mine. I felt the steady rise and fall of his chest with each breath he took and in that moment I could not have been more grateful to my family for finding a way to keep me here, to keep me with Ian.

Ian suddenly started awake and smiled at me. "Hey, baby." He kissed my forehead, then both my cheeks, then my lips and finally my neck.

"Are we really doing this," I asked, wanting to make sure this was all real.

"I certainly hope so," he answered.

"What do you think people will say?"

"I don't know. They might think it's a bit weird because marriage doesn't really hold any weight anymore. However, I don't really care. I just know that I want to spend the rest of my life with you and I want you to experience a wedding."

"How am I going to tell Melanie?"

"Well, I told Jared I was going to ask you, but I told him not to tell her because I knew you would want to."

"I should probably go talk to her." I kissed him one last time, got up from the mattress and put some clothes on. I left Ian sleeping to talk to my best friend. I walked the short distance from our cave to Melanie and Jared's. I shook the curtain that closed off their cave from the hall.

"Hello?" I heard Jared shuffle around and get up from the bed. He opened the curtain and poked his head through, looking like he had just woken up.

"Oh, hey, Wanda," he said.

"Hey, Jared. Is Melanie up? I need to talk to her."

He gave me a look like he knew what I was going to tell her, "Yeah, come on in."

I saw Melanie sitting on the bed in her pajamas. I suddenly became very nervous. I had no idea what she was going to say. Would she be mad? Would she think I was crazy? It all came out in a rush and when I was done I collapsed onto the bed waiting for her response, analyzing her face. Jared was standing in the doorway, just in case Melanie lost it, I assumed.

After what seemed like forever, she said something.

"What are you looking to get from marriage," she finally asked.

"Nothing," I began, "I just know that I want to spend the rest of my last life with him and he does too. He wants me to experience a wedding and he feels this would be good for us."

"Is it what you want though?"

"Yes. It really is. I just had the best morning of my life. I have never been so happy in all my lives."

A few minutes passed in silence. Then Melanie reached over and hugged me. I was surprised, to say the least. I didn't think that she would take so little convincing, but then I looked to Jared and saw him wink at me. I looked back at Melanie and she was crying.

"I have something to tell you too," she confessed. I looked at her, puzzled and worried at the same time. "I went to Doc the other day because I was feeling sick and he had me take this test."

I became so worried then that I couldn't help but start crying. I had no idea what she was going to say next. It could have been the worst possible outcome and I couldn't handle it if she was sick. She was one of the main reasons for my existence on this planet. I couldn't loose her.

"I'm pregnant."

It was my turn to be silent. I just sat there, staring at her with a blank expression. I didn't know how to feel about this news because I didn't know how Melanie and Jared felt about it. I couldn't think of anything to do so I got up and walked back to my room. I grabbed Ian's arm without explanation and dragged him to Melanie and Jared's room. I looked back and saw Ian's puzzled face waiting for an explanation.

We entered the room and simply said, "Tell him."

Melanie looked at me with a hurt expression and Jared stepped in front of her.

"Melanie is pregnant," he told Ian. He looked even more surprised than I was, but then he saw Jared smile and they engaged in jovial high fives and celebrating. I knew then that this child was going to be a blessing and not a curse. I went back over to the bed and wrapped my arms around Melanie. We sat there hugging and crying for a long time.

"So, I guess we all have something to celebrate," Ian began, "Should we go tell Jamie?"

Jamie sat with the same expression we all had when we heard the news. After a few minutes, I debated leaving him to think over everything he had just learned. Then I saw the corners of his mouth turn up into a smile.

A/N: Hi everyone! Thanks for reading! This is my first fanfic so I would love some feedback. Please review and I'll try to keep the story going.