Chapter two:

Over the next few days Ian wouldn't let me leave the room by myself. He claimed I still needed to adjust to this new body, so I needed plenty of rest. I was starting to go stir crazy but I wasn't about to argue with him. On the fourth day I couldn't take it anymore.

"Ian please, I'm all adjusted, I swear." I pleaded with him. He just shook his head and he searched for clothes on his make shift shelves. I came up behind him wrapping my arms around his waist, my hands on his bare chest and stomach. "Please?" I whispered kissing his shoulder blade. "Pretty, pretty please?" I kissed the middle of his spine knowing the effect it had on him. "I promise I'll be good. If I get tired I'll come right back to lay down. I promise."

Ian turned around placing his hands on my small biceps. "You really want to work today?" I nodded my head so fast I was dizzy. "Okay, I'll go with you to find Jeb."

"Really?" I asked excited to get out of this room. Ian had been bringing me my meals every day, and then carrying me if I needed to go to the bathroom. I had not stepped foot outside the room since I was in an entirely different body. Melanie and Jamie had visited a couple times, but Melanie was helping plan for the next raid and Jamie was at school and with Ian working, I was by myself the majority of the time. I had usually been okay with solitude for almost all of my eight other lives, Earth was the only place that I had ever experienced loneliness. Pet's body craved human contact like lungs need air.

"Okay." Ian nodded almost defeated.

I pouted, jutting my bottom lip out, a reaction this body seemed to have no control over. "What's wrong?"

He sighed, "I just worry, that's all."

I put my hands on his shoulder using them as leverage, jumping up and wrapping my legs around his waist. It was amazing that when we were alone, my shyness was almost completely gone, but around others I would have been beat red. I took his face in my hand, and I felt one of his hands on my back and another under my thigh, dangerously close to a place on my body that had never been touched. "You worry too much." I whispered, my lips moving against his. "Nothing's going to happen to me. I'm not going anywhere."

"I love you." He said kissing me sweetly.

"I love you." I made a trail of kisses from his jaw to his neck to his shoulder, when I started making my way back up he started laughing.

"I thought you wanted to work today, baby." I nodded against his skin. "Well, if you get me all worked up like you're doing. We won't be leaving this room for at least another two days."

My face burned, I slowly unwrapped my legs around him. He put me down gently, kissing the tip of my nose.

"Come on get dressed." He said giving me a gentle tap on my bottom as I walked past to get my clothes. My cheeks burned as I looked back at him in shock. He started laughing. "And you thought the blushing with me was over."

I tried to square out my shoulders as if to look bigger, even though it was impossible. This body was so small. Barely coming up to the top of Ian's shoulders. "I just wasn't expecting it is all."

"You're a horrible liar."

I glared at him, grabbing the hem of my shirt taking it off. I picked up the clean shirt that I had picked out fan started to put it on my arms, reaching them up to slip in over my head when I felt hand circling around my waist to rest on my stomach. My breath caught in my throat. I felt lips on the scar at the back of my neck and then hot air at my ear.

"So all I have to do to get you to blush is to catch you off guard?"

I nodded not even able to think about speaking.

"I'll keep that in mind." And then the hands were on mine where I had stopped putting the shirt one. They guided me until the shirt was firmly in place.

I turned around to face him. I knew that if I kissed him now I would never get out of this room. "Okay, let's go talk to Jeb."

As we walked through the cave Ian had never lost contact with my skin in some way; he was either holding my hand or had his arm around my shoulders, kissing the top of my head when ever he felt the need.

When we reached Jeb's large oak door, Ian was the one to knock, while absent mindedly twirling a stray piece of my hair in his index finger.

Jeb opened the door, his bushy eyebrows raising and his beard smiling when he saw me standing there. "Well, hello there Wanda. How are you adjusting?" He asked the last part of his question directed toward Ian.

"I'm doing just fine." I looked at Ian who had a sheepish grin plastered on his face. "I was wondering if maybe I could help out today?"

"It's about time you stopped laying around." Jeb turned and walked into his room waving his hand for us to follow him.

I had never seen Jeb's room before. It wasn't with the rest of the living quarters, but more near the hospital. He had a small living room and a thin doorway to the left that must have housed his bedding. He saw me glancing at the doorway and chuckled to himself. "My cave. I get two rooms." As if he needed an explaination. I could tell that Ian was rolling his eyes with the sigh that he let leave his lips. "And I'll take no lip from you Ian." Jeb walked around the small chair in the corner that had piles of books sitting next to it. There were notebooks and old pens scattered across the room. Pictures still in their frames lining the far wall. There was a small table near the bedroom door that had a large contraption on it with a gold tube that twisted in the beginning and widened like a bell at the end. There were round plastic looking discs in a crate next to the table. Jeb was busy looking over the schedules that he made for everyones chores. "Gotta write everything down in my old age. Used to be able to recite all the presidents, and now I'm missing four through twenty."

I was only half paying attention to what he was talking about. "Jeb? What is this?" I asked walking toward the contraption. I tried flipping through Pet's and what I had left of Melanie's memories to try and place this machine.

"This is my prized posession." He walked up next to me and pulled out a dusty disc out of the crate and put it down on the machine. "It's called a phonograph. It plays music." He pulled the arm out and set it down on the disc. I could hear violins reaching their cresendo, and I was mesmorized. "Alright, let me take a look at you." He took my hand in his and twirled me around. "Hmm, well the kitchen could always use a little help." Jeb must have noticed my dissappointment. I knew that Ian would be working in the fields. "Well tomorrow we will need some help planting, today we're turning the soil. If you want you can plant tomorrow."

I nodded my head vigorously. "That sounds good."

"Alright my dear, I'll put you on the schedule from now on. Now that I know that you're fine."

Ian pulled my by my hips so that I could lean against his body. "You can't really blame me for being over protective."

"Yeah I can." Jeb ran his fingers through his hair. "She may look like she needs protectin', but Wanda here is a smart girl."

"Yeah, my girl." Ian kissed the top of my head, as if to say this conversation is over.

I hated it when they talked as if I wasn't in the room, especially when they talked like I was a small child who couldn't take care of themselves. I moved away from Ian and headed toward the door. "Okay thanks Jeb. I'm gonna go eat some breakfast before I get to work." And walked out of the room.

It was only mere seconds before I felt someone grab me and pull me down a darkened hallway. I knew it was Ian. He turned me around and picked me up like he would a child, and I immediately wrapped my legs around his waist. This wasn't an unusual position for us, I was just so small and him so tall that it made sense for him to pick me up, and I had stopped fighting it days ago.

He carried me until I couldn't see the opening to the main room anymore, just the the light bouncing of the walls. I wrapped my arms around his neck. No matter how annoyed I was at Jeb and Ian's conversation still didn't change the fact that I knew I couldn't breathe without him. He leaned my back agains the cave wall, "Did we upset you?" He asked knowing full well that they did. I nodded, my forehead touching his. "What did I say?"

"It's not what you said. I just hate that you treat me like I'm going to break all the time." Saying it was making me feel hot and frustrated. I started to unwrap my legs but he held them firmly right where they were. "I can also stand on my own."

"I know that," He said resting his head where my neck met my shoulder. "I just can't –" He stopped taking a deep breath. "I can't even… I don't know how to explain this." He let my legs go and placed me gently on the ground. His touch was gone but I knew he wouldn't go far; he just leaned against the opposite wall with his hands in his pockets shuffling the dirt with his left foot. "It's like a magnet. When ever you're in the room I feel the need to be touching some part of you, and when you're not near me, I just feel empty." I reached for his hand in the dark, stepping forward so that we were just inches apart. "I can't loose you again. I don't think I'd be able to live through it again."

We had never talked about that night. Never even mentioned it. I pulled his face into my hands so that he would meet my eyes instead of the floor. "Ian. I am not going anywhere." His eyes were so empty and so dead with just the memory of that night. "I promise." He nodded, his eyes looking off to the side not meeting mine. I knew this conversation was far from over. "What?" I asked.

"It's just… No. It's nothing."

"You know you're not a very good liar."

That made him chuckle. "Fine. It's just going to take me awhile to get used to the fact that you're not leaving me anytime soon."

I hadn't realized until now just how much me giving my life to save Melanie had affected him. I felt suddenly heartbroken for this man. I had caused him so much grief and worry. He was still looking at the ground when I reached up on my tip toes to kiss him lightly. "I will spend the rest of my life making it up to you." His arms instinctually wrapped around my waist. "I'm never leaving you again. Mostly because I love you too much. But also I wouldn't be able to live without you either."

There was the smile I was waiting for. The one that lit up this dim hallway. He sighed in relief. "I'm sorry if I'm being over protective. I just can't help myself."

"I know. I think I would do the same if it were you anyway." I shrugged. Ian stomach growling ended the conversation. "You're hungry." He nodded, leaving a trail of kisses on my neck. "Let's get some food." He nodded again nibbling at the places where he had just kissed. I started to walk toward the light at the end of the hallway but Ian just pulled me back to his chest, and lifted me up to carry me again.

I guess I started to pout when he picked me up, but he just smiled, tangling his fingers in the hair at the base of my neck pulling me to his lips. I immediately forgot what we were talking about, why we were in this hallway, why I had even bothered to argue with him in the first place. I was breathing again.