Thanks for the reviews! Sorry it's taken me awhile to post this Chapter, I've been out of town two weekends in a row to the snow. I had an awesome time at both! Hopefully it won't take me as long to write the next chapter.

Also, I promise most of the OC's in this story are primarily extras, I do however have a few new characters that will have significant rolls, but for the most part I'll try to stay true to the book by keeping Melanie and Wanda the central Characters.

Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns all the characters and the original Host. I only own the OC's and the plot.

Chapter 2:

By the time we got to the Dining Hall, it seemed as if everyone else was breaking for lunch as well. I searched the crowded room for Ian and found him sitting in our usual spot with Jared, Jamie, Kyle, Sunny and the rest of the gang. Ian saw me right away and walked with me over to the kitchen. Melanie headed over as well with Jared at her side. I smelled the appetizing aroma that flooded the kitchen, and knew we were in for a special treat. We were having tri-tip sandwiches with Luciana's special BBQ sauce on toasted garlic bread. My mouth was already watering. I looked over at the table and saw that Jamie had two of them on his plate, but his mouth wasn't watering over the sandwiches. I noticed that he was eying Destiny who was standing in line behind us with her mother and father. Destiny had seen him as well, blushed and quickly looked the other way. I couldn't help but giggle to myself, wondering what Mel would think of the situation. Melanie was very protective over her little brother. After we all grabbed our food, Ian and I sat across from Melanie, Jared and Jamie. Kyle and Sunny sat on our left, and on our right sat Lily and Heidi. The rest of the group filled our table.

Brian, Geri and Destiny were still getting their food when Jamie casually asked, "Are they a new family that will be staying here?"

I nodded, after swallowing my first bite I added, "I think they are the first full family we were able to successfully save. The man is named Brian and his wife is Geraldine, but everyone calls her Geri, and their daughter's name is Destiny."

Jamie nodded slowly not taking his eyes off of Destiny. At that moment, the new family sat down at our table next to Jeb. Destiny gave Jamie a slight smile, but remained focused on what Jeb was saying, meanwhile Destiny's father gave Jamie a stern look. Jamie, looking taken aback, immediately turned his attention back to the delicious food in front of him and took a huge bite.

I looked around the room and noticed that Sharon and Doc were sitting a few tables behind us. Sharon as usual wasn't looking in our direction, however it seemed for once Sunny and I weren't the reason. Perhaps it was the hamster wheels in my head from the conversation with her earlier, trying to convince me that she didn't hate me anymore, (wishful thinking on my part I'm sure.) I wasn't about to let my guard down around her yet. It also seemed that the reason was because she was very attentive to Doc, as if there was nobody else in the room besides the two of them. It's funny how after those bitter months of not speaking to Doc, and finally reconciling their differences, it's like she had actually fallen in love with him again or maybe for the first time. Doc on the other hand looked like he was on cloud nine, because regardless of how coldly she acts towards him or whether she returned his feelings, I knew he was completely devoted to her. It was very heartwarming to see Doc so happy. It was like things were as they should be in the caves. I looked for Maggie, and she was sitting a few feet away from them. I thought that was kind of strange even for Maggie, considering that it seemed like ever since I had come into the caves, Maggie and her daughter were joined at the hip. This time, Maggie looked kind of annoyed about something, but then again that was nothing new, although I don't think I was the cause this time. At that moment Maggie caught my eye and did not disappoint me with her signature scowl saved specially for me. I looked down and saw the delicious tri-tip sandwich in front of me and remembered how hungry I was. I took a bite of the sandwich and as soon as the sauce, the meat and the bread hit my taste buds, it was as if I just took a bite of heaven, at the moment all of my present worries melted away into the sandwich.

"It's nice to see you eating something!" Ian said putting his arm around me interrupting my thoughts. If I wasn't completely head over heals for the guy, I could have smacked him for interrupting my moment if I had any violence in me at all. "I don't like seeing you so thin, you need some meat on your bones," he teased pinching my arm.

"Ha! Ha! Ha! Very funny!" I said leaning into his strong shoulders. "But that's what I got you for!"

"So, uh how about after lunch we take off where we first started this morning." He whispered seductively into my ear kissing the side of my neck in between each sylable. After he said that, I felt very hot inside the crowded room and my body felt like jelly. At that moment I wanted lunch to be over just so that I could be with Ian in private, and then I suddenly remembered that Sharon had wanted to tell me something after lunch. I pulled away gently.

"Ian, you have no idea how much I want to you to just sweep me off the table right now, but I just remembered I was supposed to go meet with Sharon after lunch."

Ian's mouth dropped, "Why in the world would you want to meet with her? She's been a complete bitch to you since the moment she first saw you!"

"I know, but that's the thing, I think she may have had a change of heart," Ian raised his eyebrows and looked skeptical, so I continued. "This morning Melanie, Sunny and I were heading over to the hospital wing with some extra food for Doc, and to do some work, when we saw Sharon leaving the office. She saw me, and said she wanted to talk about something with me, and for once she wasn't scowling at me. She actually gave a tiny smile almost."

"I don't know, do you think it's possible you may be reading more into it then was really there? I mean how is someone going to treat you like crap for a long period of time and then all of a sudden be nice? How does that work? I mean how do you know it's not a trick to try to harm you or something?"

I looked down, "I don't, but there was just something about her whole mannerism this morning that didn't seem like her, for example she looked nervous and awkward, normally she appears very confident and sure of herself. Anyways, regardless of whether she's changed or not I'm at least curious to hear what she has to say."

Ian sighed, "I still think it seems kind of fishy to me."

I kissed him lightly on the cheek, "Thanks for always being so understanding. If you'd like I'll tell you everything that happens. Ok?"

Ian nodded, he couldn't argue with that.

"Ha ha! Sucks for you Oshea! Looks like I'm going to be the only one getting some action." Jared smirked with his arms squeezed around Melanie across from us. Ever since I had left Melanie's body, Jared hadn't let go of her, or let her out of his site for too long. Part of him was still carrying feelings of guilt for the way he abandoned her emotionally when we arrived to the caves, and guilty for not believing she would return to him. Melanie had privately told me this after she came back in full control of her body. When Melanie became conscious, Jared immediately started sobbing and kept apologizing over and over to her. Although Melanie had already forgiven him while I was inside of her, and she didn't blame him for how she acted, I guess he now felt like he needed to make up for lost time by being with her as much as he could.

Melanie and Jared kissed passionately on the lips, and then Melanie pulled away. She patted his knee lightly, "Actually babe, I was planning on going with Wanda and Sunny to talk to Sharon. You know, just in case it might be a trap? Wanda may be quick to forgive and forget, but I am not."

Jared nodded, but looked just as disappointed as Ian, "I guess that would be the smart thing to do."

I wasn't sure when exactly after lunch Sharon wanted to talk, so I looked back at her table to see if she had left yet. It looked like her and Doc just finished and were getting up from the table. She was looked around the dining hall, until her eyes made contact with mine. She nodded to me, then turned to Doc and whispered something to him. Doc nodded, squeezed her hand then Sharon left the Dining Hall and Doc proceeded back to the direction of the Hospital wing. I looked over at Melanie, and as if she could read my mind, (I laughed to myself as I thought of the pun) she cleaned up her spot and pulled Sunny away from Kyle, then headed over in my direction and we headed off to the game room.

It only took us a matter of minutes to get there, and we saw Sharon waiting for us in the entranceway again looking uncharacteristically nervous, pacing back and forth. When she saw us coming, she gestured for us to follow her inside. There was a tan couch and a flowery loveseat facing each other at the back of the wall with a small coffee table in the middle. Sharon sat down in the loveseat, and Sunny and I hesitantly took a seat in the couch facing her. Sunny looked like she had no idea what was going on.

Melanie on the other hand remained standing with her hands on her hips. "Ok Sharon, what is it you want?"

Sharon sighed, "Well, I was expecting to talk to just talk to these two," she said pointing to Sunny and I, "but I'm glad you're here too, because that way I won't have to repeat myself when I would talk to you too. Please sit down with us, Mel. You don't have to sit next to me, you can sit with Wanda and Sunny if you'd like."

"First of all, you have no right to call me Mel after the way you've behaved, and I'd prefer to stand thank you very much."

"Please won't you sit down? It makes me nervous. This is already going to be hard for me as it is," She pleaded.

Melanie rolled her eyes and sat down in between Sunny and I making her present very known.

Sharon looked down at her feet, "Look, I don't really know how to start this, because it's just very hard for me to express myself verbally and I hope you can understand this." She then looked directly at both Sunny and I. "First of all, I just really want nothing more than to apologize to both you and Sunny. How I've treated you guys has been inexcusable, especially to you, Wanda. You have done nothing, but help improve the quality of life here in the caves. I have never met anyone more selfless, caring, and compassionate in my entire existence. You've saved Jamie's life. You work harder than anyone else in this place with the exception of Jeb, Melanie and Jared. You even saved the life of the person who had attempted to kill you! And after you came back from the first raid, I knew somehow deep inside that you would never betray us, even before you left. And Sunny, I'm sorry for how I've treated you as well. You never even did anything to me to cause me reason to dislike you."

All three us went wide-eyed. Never did we expect to see this coming. Being the naturally forgiving creature that I am, I wanted to go over and give Sharon a hug and tell her that I understood, and that I forgave her. Well maybe the hug part was pushing it for me. I still had somewhat of a guard up. Anyway I didn't get to yet because Melanie spoke up first.

"So then my question to you is, if you knew Wanda wasn't a threat and she was all of those wonderful things that you just claimed. Why then did you persist to treat us, I mean her, like crap?"

Now it was Sharon's turn to be in shock, a look of realization appeared on her face. "I thought it would be obvious to you Mel." Melanie just stared at her blankly and Sharon sighed again, "Ok, I know this may be difficult, but see if you can try to understand things from my perspective. Growing up, we used to be very close, I mean I considered you one of my best friends, and after everyone had been taken over by their kind, you were one of the few people left that I knew of and until we found the caves, you were my only friend besides my mom and Uncle Jeb. Then when I saw you come into the caves, all I could think was, my best friend was gone and this was the parasite that did it." She looked over at me apologetically. "My mother grieved as well. She cared about you very much Mel, like a second daughter. At that point, I couldn't trust Wanda to not turn us in to the seekers. All we wanted was for you to just go. It was too painful to see Wanda in your body. Then I had heard that there was possibility that you were still alive in there and that infuriated me even more, because Wanda could see you weren't going anywhere, yet she refused to leave your body and you were left imprisoned inside your mind. It didn't matter how much good Wanda did, all I could see was that she had my cousin prisoner, and was still selfish enough to stay. Don't you see Melanie? I have always been on your side, and my mom and I were only trying to protect you! I had thought you were gone! I had no idea how close you and Wanda had become, because all I could see was that you were prisoner. I can see now that, all those months when I was rejecting Wanda, I was rejecting you as well, and all I've managed to do was destroy our relationship." At that moment Sharon burst into tears with her head in her hands.

It was clear Melanie was still trying to process everything Sharon had just told her, but this time, the hard look on Melanie's face softened, and she put her hand on Sharon's shoulder and asked quietly, "So why the change of heart, and why are you waiting until now to apologize?"

Sharon took a deep breath, tears still streamed down her face, "Do you want do know the truth?" Melanie nodded.

So the second chapter has now been completed! Don't worry, the next chapter won't take as long to post. I decided to patch up Melanie and Sharon's relationship because in the book, there wasn't much closure on that subject. I also figured there'll be plenty of drama later on in the story. Please read and review!