Okay so here is part two :) Hope it's not as bad as you might have thought!
Oh and PS Wanda is coming soon :)
Melanie could not get that arguement out of her mind. She'd never seen Jared tense up like that to Ian before. They had always seemed like friends unless Wanda was inside her body but that was over now. Or was she wrong? Did they still have awkwardness between them because of what happened?
She tried to think through every option but got stuck on one. What if Ian had gained feelings for her because her body had once been Wanda's home? It seemed stupid and so obviously wrong but she couldn't push it out of her mind.
It must have been a while she had been sitting there by the fields until she heard footsteps walking through the tunnel. She looked behind her at the entrance and there stood her little brother. "Are you hiding?" he asked.
"No," Melanie shook her head. "I'm just thinking."
"What about?" Jamie walked closer to his sister and sat right beside her. "Does it have to do with Ian?"
She was stunned for a moment. "Why would it have to do with Ian?"
"No reason," he shrugged. "I could tell something was up between him and Jared though. I don't think I've seen act this way towards each other since around when we came here."
"Something happened between them when you two came here?" Melanie felt bad asking her brother for information but she could feel like it was something she should know. And if they were able to tell Jamie, she had the right to know.
"I don't know what it was," Jamie answered. He didn't seem to be sensing she wanted to find out from him, just that she was curious. "I was maybe their third raid together. It took awhile to get them back to being friends."
Melanie wondered what that could be. Jared did say they almost got caught because of Ian but she had no idea what it could be. "I wonder what happened."
Jamie shrugged again. "Don't worry about it, Mel. They'll get back to normal."
"You're right," she replied in a dream-like voice. Her mind was elsewhere. It couldn't be Ian having feelings for her. Not only did he love Wanda but this was connected to that fight. Ian didn't even know her then. It was something else.
He decided to change the subject. "Do you wanna go watch a game with me? Aaron promised I could keep score this time."
"Sure," she smiled. A game would be a nice distraction.
They left and went towards the game room for the rest of the afternoon.
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Jared was ready to hit a wall again. He stopped himself after thinking of when he and Melanie fought before he left. He didn't want to be reckless again. But he really needed to get his anger out somehow.
The whole plan to find Wanda had struck a few chords with him. He remembered the mission they went on and Ian messed everything up. They were supposed to head home but instead Ian made a wrong move that wasn't planned for. He put the guys on the raid and everybody in the caves in jeopardy.
He knew it had been wrong to start a fight with Ian earlier. It was part his fault what had happened too but he blamed the O'Shea instead. He probably was so used to Kyle making bad decisons he turned it on Ian.
The whole thing was so frustrating. He didn't want to be mad at anyone right now, especially not after the night he and Mel had. He definitely didn't want to be mad when he knew Wanda might be coming back soon. He wanted to thank her for everything she had done. He decided he needed to talk to Ian.
But first he wanted to talk to Melanie.
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Jeb wandered into the game room to find Maggie. He told her earlier that she needed to not approach Melanie but Doc told him that Sharon knew she would. He was glad Sharon had been seeing things differently now that Melanie was back and Wanda gave her life for her. But he knew at least Wanda wasn't gone forever and he was glad about that. He liked the soul.
He spotted his sister on the other side of the room by Lacey. He didn't like Lacey that much so it seemed right she would go talk to her. Lacey had been complaining since she got her body back and not everyone was always excited to talk to her. Jeb was one of those people.
He shook his head to shake off the feeling and walked towards the two of them. He was stopped by a little family member.
"Hey, Uncle Jeb," the kid beamed.
"Hey there, Jamie," he smiled. He may have just saved him. "What can I do for you?"
"Can you talk to Ian?" he asked him. "Something happened between him and Jared and Mel's really worried. Maybe you can find out what's going on."
"Well, not why not Jared?"
"I think he needs to figure out what he needs to do," Jamie whispered and looked over Melanie as if the answer was easy. Jeb understood.
Jeb laughed a little. "I got it."
Jamie nodded and smiled then ran back to his sister. He watched them and looked back at his own sister. Maybe it could wait. He doubted Melanie would let her come up to her again after what happened anyway.
So instead, he sat back and watched the game with his niece and nephew. Melanie hugged him when he came over and it almost felt like old times before the invasion.
It was nice.
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The kitchen was empty for once, and so was the fields. Jared had no idea where Melanie was until he got to the game room. Everyone was in there as the game finished up and he spotted her sitting with her brother and uncle. He couldn't tell her with them there. He wasn't even sure if Jeb knew about what happened.
Instead, he pushed those thoughts aside for later and went to sit beside them. When he reached them, they were about ready to go. Melanie looked up and saw him. Despite her feelings about whatever was happening, she smiled at him. "Hey."
"Hey," Jared said back. Jamie rolled his eyes as if he was used to them being mushy with such a non-mushy word. He noticed the older man looking at him, who was life a father to Melanie since she'd been back and cleared his throat, nodding. "Jeb."
"Hello, Jared," he nodded back. Jamie laughed this time. He could tell what everything meant. "Are you staying here?"
"No," Jared answered. "I was actually just looking for Mel."
"Well, she's right here," she pointed out and smiled at the younger man. He turned to the youngest Stryder then. "I think me and Jamie have some work to do so we can leave you two to talk."
He gave Jared a look like he knew what was going on, or at least a part of it and put his arm around his nephew and walked away. Melanie smiled as she looked up at him. She had looked almost shy and brushed a piece of hair behind her hair. "Hi."
"Hi," he greeted her again. He could never get over how beautiful she was.
Melanie reached forward and took his hand. Staring at their joined hands instead of his face, she started to speak. "I'm sorry about pressuring you to tell me what's going on. It's none of my business and you don't have to tell me anything, all right?"
"You're apologizing?" He asked and let out a sound that sounded like a laugh but wasn't. "Mel, I should be the one apologizing."
She shrugged. "It's fine."
Jared reached his finger under her chin and forced her to look at him. "And I want to tell you about what happened. Just not here. Can we go to our room? I don't really want everyone else to hear about it."
"Of course," she agreed.
The two of them walked back to their room hand in hand. They went past everyone not caring who they were passing for the moment. Jared needed to tell her about that raid. He knew he would have to eventually and he'd lose his nerve if he didn't do it now.
When they reached the room, Jared took his hand out of Melanie's and closed the door. She went and sat on the bed. Memories of the previous night flashed in her mind and she felt the blush creep out. Before she could hide it, Jared turned around and saw it. He smiled as if he were thinking the same thing.
"I want to tell you about what happened with me and Ian," Jared said as he walked over to the bed and sat down. "I don't want to keep anything from you, Mel."
"All right," she just nodded. She kept her voice as calm as she could and just waited for him to continue.
He cleared his throat and got himself ready. "Back when I first came here, me and Ian became friends fast. He told me about Kyle and Jodi, that it was why Kyle is how he is and I told him about you."
He took a deep breath in between speaking then continued. "On the raid after I told him about you, Ian was determined to find you. He wanted to bring you back and take the soul out of you, see if you were still alive."
Melanie was in shock. She didn't know what to say to that. She had never even known Ian knew about her before she came here. She wanted to say something but she didn't want to interrupt.
"After we raided this store on the last night of the mission, Ian said that he found a lead to you," he sighed. She could see the pain on his face and wanted to comfort him. "I told him it wasn't possible but he was just being a good friend. He wanted to bring you back to me and I was mad at him but he said he could get you."
His eyes drifted off as if remembering it.
"Come on, man! I saw her!" Ian screamed at Jared. "She's right in that building! Don't you want to see her?"
"No," Jared said. His resolve was breaking and so was his heart. "None of us are going in there. We need to get back. The raid is over."
Ian sighed and hit his sides with his hands as if he were frustrated. "You know you want to go in there."
Jared thought about seeing Melanie's face again, seeing those eyes on her. He thought about her not being herself and into this trained soul. He imagined everything he loved about her gone and Melanie Stryder as a person gone. He couldn't handle it. "No, I don't."
"But Ian went in anyway," Jared said. "I went back to the jeep and waited for him. I waited for two days. It seemed like he was never coming back. I thought he was turned and was going to tell the souls where we were."
Melanie swallowed. She felt ready to cry looking at his broken face. It was obvious he was feeling of the pain of that time all over again as he told her the story. "What happened?"
"He finally came back," Jared answered. "He had been hiding in that building for a day and a half but he saw you in there. He described you perfectly so I knew he wasn't lying. He said you were a teacher. I don't know how he did it but he saw you."
She was speechless. He saw her teaching. Well, Wanda but he saw her. Melanie did what she felt she needed to and hugged Jared tightly. She held him to her so tightly and he wrapped his arms around her. Jared leaned his head on her shoulder and tried to wash those feelings away. Melanie was here, now, with him, in his arms. That was what was important.
Mel was the first to speak. "I'm so sorry you had to go through that. First, everything with me then thinking Ian was gone and caught."
Jared pulled himself away and held her face in his hands, staring into her eyes. "I told you you don't need to be sorry. Ian needed to be after what he pulled."
"He just wanted to help you," she said as he took his hands away.
"He didn't," Jared said through his teeth but she could tell it was more sadness than anger. "He just almost got himself caught and screwed us all over."
"But he didn't," she said. Melanie wasn't used to being the one who comforted. It felt different. "Isn't it good he wanted to help you find me?"
"Maybe," he shrugged. "I didn't think I could handle seeing you though. I didn't want to see you."
"And when I came here?"
"I definitely didn't want to see you then," he said but he made a smile form at the end of his sentence. "But now I have you back."
"Yes, you do," she smiled, holding his hands in her lap. "And I am never leaving you ever again, got it?"
"Got it."
"Good," she smiled. "Now stop worrying about what might happen or what has happened because right now, we're together and that's what matters."
"All right," he smiled back.
She kissed him softly and leaned her head on him. "But you don't want to tell me I'm stupid for getting mad? Any other options on what I told you?"
"Nope," she shook her head. "You told Ian about me, he wanted you happy with me, you both did some crazy things but everything's fine."
"Promise me."
Melanie sat back up and looked into his eyes. "I promise."